The Rebel Queen
by icyfeistypants
Summary: After Arendelle is conquered, Elsa is forced into hiding to stay alive, but she refuses to sit by as her people are mistreated. She works in secret to amass an army to take back her kingdom. The people have named her the Rebel Queen. Little does she know when she happens to rescue Anna, a gypsy, just how important the girl will be in the upcoming war. (AU; Elsanna, not incest.)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Anna was running for her life. They had come out of the dark from nowhere –no one had even heard their approach– and had charged into their camp, brandishing weapons and screaming for blood. Her father had gathered her up from where she'd been sleeping and dragged her through the chaos until they'd reached a hidden spot behind one of the caravans, then he'd shoved her in the direction of the tree line with a single, desperate order:

_Run_.

The stitch in her side robbed her of breath, leaving her lungs burning and her heart pounded painfully in her throat. Branches scratched her face and thorns bit into her skin, but she didn't dare stop. They were coming, she just knew they were, and if they caught her...

She charged into a small clearing and suddenly tripped over something, she wasn't quite not sure what, and crashed to the ground, tearing up the palms of her hands on the rough forest floor. She pushed herself back up as quickly as she could, ripping her dress free from where it had become caught on the jagged edge of an old log by a smoldering campfire and a bedroll (probably what she had tripped over) and then she took off running again.

She tore back into the trees and kept on going until she thought she could go no more. And then she pushed herself farther, stumbling numbly along. Finally though, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the cold, damp earth. Her aching chest heaved as she tried desperately to suck in the oxygen her lungs so desperately needed. Her legs felt like lead and her body shook with exhaustion. How long had she been running? She didn't know.

She managed to crawl over to the closest tree and leaned her back against it, taking a moment to close her eyes and focus on her breathing, trying to calm her harsh wheezing. She would only sit there for a minute to catch her breath, she told herself. Just a minute, that was all.

* * *

Anna wasn't aware she'd fallen into an exhausted slumber until she jolted awake at the sound of snapping branches and approaching voices. Her heart started thudding painfully in panic and her breath hitched in her throat. She strained her ears to hear which direction the voices were coming from (behind her and to the left) before she climbed back up onto her sore feet and as quietly as she could, bolted into the trees, running in the opposite direction of the voices.

She apparently hadn't been quiet in her escape at all because the sounds of those approaching didn't seem to lessen. In fact, they seemed to be growing closer. She involuntarily let out a gasping whimper of terror as she frantically weaved in and out of trees, pushing through thickets and climbing over logs. She moved as quickly as she could, but found herself stumbling in her desperation more often than not. Even the light from the dawning sun, which had apparently crept up while she had been sleeping, offered little aid in her chaotic escape.

The voices continued to grow closer and her efforts to escape became more frantic, less thought out. She didn't even try to keep quiet now or watch where she stepped. She just kept going. She didn't even notice the cliff until she was skidding to a frenzied stop right at the edge of the sheer drop-off.

She took only a moment to glance down the gorge thats drop, had she not stopped, surely as not would have killed her before she changed her direction and took several steps forward in preparation to dart back into the trees...

...But it was too late.

There was a shout from the shadowed foliage in front of her and then a shrill, whistling sound. She knew what the sound was, but before she could even think to move, fiery agony ripped through her right shoulder, robbing her of breath and driving her hard to the rocky ground. She lie in a dazed heap for a few beats, trying to breathe through the pain, before she lifted her head and spied the source of her torment. An arrow. It had impacted her upper right chest just below the clavicle, tearing through the muscle, and had nearly passed all the way through her body. The fletching was protruding less than a fingers length out of the front of her shoulder, and she didn't even need to look back to know that the head of it was jutting out in a similar fashion from the back side as well. She whimpered.

Four men stepped into the small clearing, some grinning, all brandishing weapons. Anna's heart dropped and her hands began shaking in terror. She pushed herself painfully up onto her feet, clutching a hand around the shaft of the arrow in an effort to keep from jostling it, and took an uneasy step backward away from the men despite knowing full well that there was no where to go.

The men fanned out, creating a semi-circle around her so that there was absolutely no way to bolt past them. One in the middle stepped forward, a dark and terrifying scowl slipping across his scarred face. He was stroking a wicked-looking blade that was as long as his forearm. It still seemed to be crusted with the blood of his last victims.

"Shouldn't have run," he rumbled, his gravelly voice low and menacing. "The boys here don't like running, especially not through the night." He shook his head. "He said he wanted you alive, but he didn't specify that your fingers needed to be unbroken. Or even your legs for that matter." There were chuckles from the men behind him.

Anna swallowed hard and backed up another step, her left foot landing half-way off of the edge of the rock face. The man apparently thought she intended to kill herself by diving off the cliff because he charged forward, startling her and causing her to step back farther, and grabbed the front of her dress a moment before she completely lost her balance. He yanked her forward, throwing her past him to the ground between him and his men, saving her from plummeting to her death.

The impact of her rough landing snapped the arrow shaft just below the fletching, leaving a jagged, splintered end protruding from the front of her shoulder. The resultant waves of fire that shot down her arm and into her chest almost made her black out. The pain was so intense that her throat seized, cutting short the cries of agony that tried to wrench themselves from her lungs.

"What? You think you can just just throw yourself off a cliff and kill yourself after we've chased you all this way?!" he roared as he marched the three steps between them. He grabbed her by the front of her dress again, hauling her into a sitting position, and then furiously backhanded her across the face. Her bottom lip split and she tasted blood.

Anna brought her head back around and met that man's gaze, trying her very best not to show him just how terrified she was, trying her very best not to make a sound. She knew men like this, or at least knew of them. They got off on the fear and pain of others and she refused to give him the satisfaction.

His eyes narrowed at her feeble attempt at defiance and yanked her upward to her feet. "Well?!" he demanded, shaking her.

Anna shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from whimpering. "N-no." She silently cursed herself when her bottom lip quivered ever so slightly. So much for not giving them the satisfaction. Her vision blurred as tears began to flood her eyes against her will, threatening to fall down her freckled cheeks.

"Don't lie to me, girl!"

"I-I'm not! Really!" He raised his hand to her again and she tensed hard. It took everything in her not to cower.

His lip turned up in a sneer. "Pathetic." He shook his head in clear disgust, then he turned Anna and tossed her toward the other three men. She landed jarringly on her hands and knees, biting down hard to contain a yelp. "Tie her and let's get out of here. I want to be back by midday tomorrow. If she is the one, then all this damned madness will finally be over."

One of the others, a huge, dark-haired beast of a man, stepped up to Anna. "Get up," he growled at her, quite obviously in as ill a mood as his leader.

Anna tried, but was shaking and weak. She just wasn't fast enough. "I said, _get up_," he ground out. He grabbed her by her coppery hair and jerked her painfully up. She yelped, this time unable to stop herself. Grasping at his hands, she scrambled tremblingly onto her feet as he continued to pull upward.

One the two remaining, the tall, skinny one with the bow, stepped up with a coil of coarse rope. He grabbed Anna's wrists, halting her desperate attempts to claw free the tearing fingers in her hair, and he yanked her hands down to her waist. Burning spikes shot through her abused shoulder again, stealing the breathe from her lungs and turning her knees to jelly. He wrapped the rope roughly around her wrists and tied it off.

Her hands bound, the surrounding tension seemed to wane a bit. The brute holding her by the hair loosened his grip and the one in front dropped his hold on her hands. Anna glanced to her right. She was close to the trees now, only a few strides away, and they were all letting their guard down because they believed they had her. Maybe, just maybe...

She took a steeling breath.

Giving no warning, she threw her foot down, stomping as hard as she could on the insole of Brute's foot and in the very next breath, threw the same foot out, connecting solidly between Skinny's legs. How she, as a person who possessed the grace and accuracy of a drunken, three-legged elk, managed to aim so truly, she didn't know, but she wasn't going to stand there and contemplate it. She tore off into the trees.

There were shouts of pain and anger and Anna thought for perhaps three full seconds that her idea to kick and run had been a good one until the cries of indignation behind her turned into the sound of heavy boots charging through the thicket after her. She silently cursed everything, though mostly her inability to actually think things through before acting. She'd barely managed to evade the men when she'd had a head start, didn't have an arrow through her shoulder, and when her hands had been free. What exactly had been going on in her head, she wondered, to make her think she'd be able to just dart off into the trees to freedom?

_Oh, right. **Nothing**_.

She wouldn't give up though! Not now. She'd broken free of her captors and she wasn't going to stop for anything...

...except for maybe six and a half feet of pure muscle barreling in from her blind side and tackling her with such force that she blacked out for a few seconds.

When she came to, she was being yanked up off of the ground and onto her feet. Not that it much mattered because a moment later she was in the dirt again, driven there by a vicious backhand from Brute. She stared dazedly up at the man as he crouched down beside her and lifted his fist.

"His Majesty wants her alive," the fourth man reminded the others in an almost bored tone, speaking up for the first time since they'd caught up with Anna. He meandered up with the limping Skinny.

The leader was standing about three feet from Anna's head, just staring down at her with an expression of dark loathing. He crossed his arms. "She'll survive a few bruises, and perhaps then she'll learn not to run," he rumbled, flicking his chin out to Brute, giving him his permission.

Brute grinned nastily and brought his fist down across her face again.

Anna tried to curl in on herself, but it was no use. Brute had her pinned in place. All she could do was watch his shadow through tear-flooded eyes as he pulled back his arm again to deliver yet another blow.

She tensed, bracing herself for the pain... but then it didn't come. Instead there was a light hiss followed by a thud, and then:

"I would not advise touching the girl again," a voice said, a new voice.

A _female_ voice.

Anna hadn't heard the woman approach and apparently, neither had the men because they all made startled sounds. Or maybe they'd been startled because she'd just flattened the biggest of the four. When Anna could see past her tears, she saw the man who had been attacking her lying on the ground not to far from her, his eyes lifeless and his lips... blue?

A few beats passed and Anna heard the leader shift his position slightly, placing himself closer to the two remaining men. The woman stepped between him and Anna, her back to the downed girl.

Anna couldn't see the woman's face, but she could see that she was tall and had a shock of white-blonde hair that fell in a long braid down her back. She wore a light blue tunic beneath a dark leather vest and matching breeches. Her nearly-black riding boots reached just below her knees.

And she also had a broadsword strapped on her back.

"This isn't your business," the leader growled and Anna watched through her now slightly-hazy vision as his two remaining men began shifting their weight, slowly moving to flank the woman on both sides.

"Well, I'm making it my business," the woman replied cooly. "Now the girl and I are going to walk away and you're going to leave us alone."

They were? And _they were_? Anna was confused.

The man actually laughed and his men followed suit, though the other two sounded a bit strained. "Is that so?"

Anna shivered slightly as the temperature randomly dropped.

"Yes." And then the blonde woman's sword was out and it was arcing toward the leader. He jumped back, out of the way and out of Anna's field of vision. The woman followed.

Anna clenched her eyes tight and covered her head with her uninjured arm, too weak and dazed to move, and too petrified to look, but she could hear everything. Weapons clashing, grunts, the sound of flesh slamming into flesh, cries of pain... and then what seemed like an eternity later, silence. She was too afraid to move. Were they gone? Were they all... dead?

But wait, no, she _did_ hear something. There was one sound left, but it took her terrified brain a few moments to realize what it was.

Soft panting.

They hadn't gone. They weren't all dead. _Someone was still there_.

And they were suddenly walking right toward her.

Soft footfalls slowly approached and Anna's tortured breath caught in her throat. Her whole body tensed and she wished vainly that she could be invisible. _Oh God, oh God, oh God..._

A hand landed on her arm and she shrieked, wrenching herself away and trying to scurry backward in a pathetic attempt to escape. The sharp movement sent agony rippling out from her damaged shoulder again and she sobbed once aloud, blinking hard as her vision swam. It was all just too much.

"Calm down! Calm down..."

Anna immediately realized it was the woman speaking, not any of the men. She brought her sky blue eyes up to suddenly meet a pair of azure ones and audibly gasped. She didn't know what she had been expecting, perhaps some gruff, weathered warrior like the few she had met along her travels, but certainly not this. The woman before her was... _gorgeous, _startlingly so_, _and Anna didn't quite know what to make of that.

Crouched down in front of Anna with her hands held up unthreateningly, the blonde made a small move to come toward the girl and Anna visibly tensed, unable to help herself. The woman stopped short. "It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you," she said. Her voice was a cool, soft purr that Anna instantly found soothing, but her expression didn't quite match her words. Her face was perplexingly composed, emotionless. _Almost cold_. Anna wondered if this woman realized that comforting someone took more than just words. "I just saved your life."

Yes, she had, hadn't she? ...But why?

"Alright then..." the woman tried, "What's your name?"

"Uh..."

"Uh? Not much of a name."

Anna somehow found her voice and shakily forced out, "A-Anna."

"Ok, Anna," the blonde said, her tone becoming a little less soothing. Anna could have sworn she heard even a hint of urgency to it as well. "Now, I need you to listen to me closely." She ducked her head a bit to look Anna more directly in the eyes. "Are you? Are you listening?"

Anna nodded.

The warrior woman nodded in return. "I'm sure that you're quite aware that you have an arrow sticking out of your shoulder?"

"Uh, _quite_."

She didn't exactly smile, but there was something in the blonde's eyes that gave Anna the impression that she was just a bit amused. "Right." The woman took a breath before she as-clearly-as-she-could stated, "We need to go, but first that arrow has to come out. If it doesn't, it will fester and swell, and you don't want that. We must do it quickly."

Anna swallowed hard, terrified all over again. "Why, uh, why the rush?"

"Those men, Anna," she started, glancing over her shoulder where the redhead didn't dare look, where the bodies of the four men lie, "there are more of them and they are coming. We _have_ to go."

"How do you know?" Anna asked.

Anna saw something flash through the woman's eyes. Frustration? Annoyance maybe? "Because after you came charging through my campsite, I waited to see what was chasing you. Yes, it was those four men, but behind them were more men, a lot more, and they are headed this way. If we don't move, they will catch us, and if they catch us..." She gave Anna a pointed look. "Do you understand me, Anna?"

Anna's eyes had grown huge and her hands had begun shaking as a new wave a fear began coursing through her veins.

"Anna," she repeated, "do you understand me?"

Anna's head bobbed up and down again. "Y-yes."

"Good." The woman glanced around for a moment before bringing her fingers up to her lips and blowing out a shrill whistle. Anna cocked a confused eyebrow, but no explanation for the behavior was given. Instead, the blonde glanced down at herself and after a slight pause, reached into the top of her breeches, pulling free the blue tunic she'd tucked in. She tore off a long strip from the bottom of it, then repositioned herself from Anna's front to her side.

"Brace yourself," she said as she gently placed one hand against the back of Anna's shoulder and moved the other to take hold of the arrow.

"Wait!" Anna exclaimed.

The woman arched a perfect eyebrow in question. "Yes?"

Anna floundered for a moment. She understood that they were running out of time, she really did, but she also wondered if a small delay in tearing out the arrow would really be all that bad? "I, uh,... um... I don't- I don't know your name yet. I just feel like if you're going to be, you know," she swallowed hard, "ripping an arrow out of my body, I should at least know your name... because... well, for... reasons, and—"

Anna's bumbling was cut short when the woman said, "My name is Elsa," then gripped the shaft of the arrow just below the head and pulled.

White hot agony blazed through her and then Anna was swallowed by darkness.

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_Author's Note:_ More to come? If you like?

Also, just so you know, it's only rated T at the moment, but will be turning to M in upcoming chapters for violence and other adult-ish themes.


	2. Chapter 2

The moment Elsa heard the startled squawk through the trees, she halted what she was doing and took off in the direction of the campsite. She'd scouted the area before she'd left the unconscious girl there to go check the snares she'd placed the night before and she hadn't seen any signs of patrol activity. That combined with the fact that she hadn't placed the snares far from camp and she'd left the girl under the watchful eye of Marsh, well, she hadn't been too worried about wandering away for a few minutes to check her traps. Now, as she tore through the trees, she wondered if maybe she'd made a foolish error.

Slowing as she reached the edge of camp, she pulled her sword from its scabbard on her back and crept quietly through the brush. She paused when she was close enough, but still concealed, and surveyed the scene, searching for dangers, searching for whatever had pulled the startled cry from the redhead's lips.

And then she saw it and it made so much sense. _Oh. Marsh._

She double-checked that there wasn't any other trouble lurking about before she stood and sheathed her sword. She stepped into camp and wandered over to stand near the girl's head. She crossed her arms. "Making friends?"

Anna's head tilted quickly back and she peered at Elsa with an alarmed expression. "Uh, help?" Anna was still lying on the bedroll Elsa had placed her on once she'd gotten the girl back to camp, she was still covered in the blanket Elsa had draped over her, and she was still more-or-less in the very same position Elsa had put in her in when she'd wrangled the unconscious girl's limp body into submission. The only real difference now was that standing directly over the girl, his four legs on either sides of her body, his long face hanging down over hers, his dark eyes observing her in a manner that Elsa would possibly classify as suspicious, was Marsh, Elsa's rather large, rather... eccentric horse.

Elsa bit back a smirk. "Stay still," she said to the girl before she walked over and took the horse by his bridle, carefully leading him forward and away from Anna. "I told you to watch over her, not stand over her and watch her," she chided the beast. Marsh snorted indignantly.

Anna pushed herself one-handedly into a sitting position, holding her injured arm tight to her chest. "You left your horse to watch me?"

"I wasn't far off, and I've found that Marsh is actually more capable than a great many men I've met over the years," Elsa replied, stroking his cheek. Marsh's coat was an exquisite pure white that only darkened around his muzzle, which turned from white to the color of soot with very little transition at all, and his feet, as all four of his hooves were black. His mane and tail fell in long, crimped waves. They were just as white as the rest of him at the top, but turned a light creamy color at the ends. His dark, almost-black eyes stuck out strikingly from all the white, like coal against snow.

"Wait. You have a horse."

Elsa brought her attention back around to Anna. "Yes," she answered.

"A big horse."

"Yes."

"A white horse."

"Yes."

"In the forest."

Elsa cocked an eyebrow and glanced around at the surrounding trees before bringing her gaze back to Anna. The look on her face clearly said, 'Duh.' "I assume you have a point in mind to round off this peculiar line of questioning?"

"Well, it's just... he's _white_."

"You already said that."

"_Really_ white." What the girl was going on about, Elsa really had no clue. She shifted her weight impatiently and Anna seemed to pick up on the feelings behind the action because she immediately began to ramble.

"I'm just saying that I assume you aren't particularly friendly with the king's men considering you, uh... dispatched four of them to save me, and from what I heard, anyone who doesn't bow to the king and his men end up being..."

"Dispatched?" Elsa supplied dryly.

Anna swallowed and nodded. "Yes. Dispatched. So it would seem to me that if you're traveling the king's woods, you might try to find a, um... less conspicuous horse?"

The reference to the "king's woods" had Elsa suddenly stiffening. They were the king's woods, yes, but the wrong king. The rightful king had been murdered, butchered trying to save his kingdom. Following that, they should have become the queen's woods, but she had had to flee, leaving her lands, her woods, to the supplanter, to the defiler. He'd claimed rulership and so they remained the king's woods. Everything was just so very wrong.

Anna must have noticed the sudden darkness in Elsa's mood because the girl began floundering yet again.

"I-I don't mean to imply that you can't handle yourself, because obviously you can! _Really_. Anyone would be an absolute fool to attack you simply because your horse is so easy to spot. And besides, he'd be great in snow. Super inconspicuous!" She paused and cocked her head to the side slightly, studying Elsa. "In fact, _you'd_ probably be great in snow, too." She blinked, then her face scrunched up slightly as if she were evaluating in her head the words she'd just spoken and was finding them distasteful. "Uh, in that your complexion and your light hair... are... light..."

Elsa cocked an eyebrow, rather unsure of what to make of the girl. Her rambling was odd, but also rather... endearing in a way.

Anna snapped her mouth shut with an audible click of the teeth. She twisted her lips to the side and pursed them there, glancing awkwardly around while worrying the edge of the blanket with her fingers.

Deciding to take pity on the redhead, Elsa held up the rabbit she had snared. "Are you hungry?"

The girl immediately perked up at that. "Starving." Then she paused a moment and frowned. "But... I should really return to my family. They will be worried."

Crouching down beside the fire, Elsa added some extra wood and stoked the flame until it was burning cheerily away before she went about skinning and gutting the rabbit. There were still moments when she found herself marveling at the fact that she even knew how to do such tasks. It didn't used to be that way. Life as a princess hadn't afforded her many opportunities in which to practice such skills. It wasn't until after she'd been made to flee the kingdom that she'd been forced to learn. Thankfully her tutor, the stable boy of all people, had been very patient in his teachings.

"Very likely true," she conceded, keeping her eyes on her task instead of looking at the girl as she spoke, "but then, you've already been gone for hours. It's unlikely that another half hour added to that will be all that damaging."

"Hours?"

The stomach-clenching tone in which the girl used had Elsa immediately bringing her attention around to her. Anna's eyes were large and round, her skin pale.

"What time is it?" she asked, glancing upward, eyes searching out the suns location.

"A little past midday," Elsa supplied.

"Midday?"

Elsa nodded.

"I was unconscious for that long? Why didn't you wake me?" Anna sounded almost frantic at this point and it made Elsa frown.

"You were injured. You needed rest." She stated in like it was obvious. "In fact, you still are and you still do."

"But my family!" Anna threw the blanket off of her legs and scrambled unsteadily to her feet. She wavered there and had to stand still to keep from toppling right over again. "You don't understand," she said, her voice strained. "It wasn't just me they attacked. It was the whole caravan." Her hands were starting to shake. "Papa– he told me to run, but the others–"

Elsa gave quick a nod, trying to stave off the girl's panic. "Alright, we'll go."

Anna did a double-take. "Wait, you're going to come with me?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

The redhead frowned as if thoroughly perplexed. "Well, I just– I just thought..."

"Would it not be rather foolish of me to risk my life to save you from the king's men, then place even further time and energy into your well-being by tending to your injuries only to abandon all efforts right before seeing you to safety?" Perhaps 'safety' was a poor choice of words considering that it had been from that very 'safety' that the girl had run in the first place. Still, back with her family is where Anna needed to be and Elsa would see it through. Once Anna was with her people, the two of them would part ways and what would remain of their encounter would be nothing but a story to tell. Whether or not the girl would be safe afterwards, well, Elsa really didn't know, but that was just how it had to be.

"Well, when you put it that way..." Anna conceded.

Elsa nodded again. "Good," she said. "Let me finish packing and we'll leave." Anna glanced anxiously at the surrounding trees, no doubt desperately wishing to leave immediately, and Elsa understood. If it had been her family, she would have wanted to return to them as soon as possible as well. Still, most of the camp was packed up already and it would take but a few minutes to finish. It had been hours. Surely three or four more minutes wouldn't worsen matter all that much?

She turned her body to block Anna's view and flash-froze the rabbit for later, wrapping it back in its own fur. She stood, walking the short distance to Marsh and after double wrapping it in a piece of cloth, slipped the rabbit into one of the saddlebags. She rinsed her hands off with some water from her waterskin and wiped them quickly dry on a second piece of cloth. When she turned back to face Anna, the girl was crouching down trying to roll the blanket one-handed.

"Here, let me," Elsa said as she moved over to Anna, making quick work of rolling both the blanket and the bedroll.

"Sorry," Anna apologized, smiling sheepishly at Elsa. "I'm usually much more efficient at such tasks."

Elsa took the blanket and bedroll and strapped them down directly behind the saddle. "It's understandable," she said, feeling a peculiar need to assuage the redhead's chagrin. She even managed to cast a small smile in return over her shoulder at the girl, which actually startled her… a lot more than it seemed to startle Anna. In fact, Anna didn't really seem to be alarmed at all, but rather relieved. "Arrows through the shoulder do tend to hamper efficiency," Elsa added.

_Wait_. Had she just made a joke? She very nearly frowned at herself. She was never so familiar with people she just met… or really anyone. She was _sarcastic_ with most people, when she felt there was a need for it, but she only ever joked with those few people closest to her and only ever in private.

Anna's smile grew large and she nodded. "Yes, I think I'd have to agree with you on that."

Elsa, still processing where her sudden bout of humor had come from, completely missed what Anna said and instead just blinked stupidly at her for a few moments. "Um…"

Anna just stared back, her smile shrinking little by little as the seconds passed.

Pulling instinctively from her royal upbringing, Elsa straightened her spine and adopted an regal expression. She glanced quickly (and as gracefully as possible) around to be sure she'd left no belongings behind. She saw nothing so she kicked some dirt on the fire and said, "We should probably go."

That sobered the redhead. She nodded. "Right. Yes. Let's."

Elsa grabbed Marsh's reins and with a returning nod, she lead the horse and the girl into the trees.

* * *

A/Ns: Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for their reviews/favs/follows! They certainly make a girl feel all a'giddy with happiness! Love you all!

Secondly, this chapter wasn't as long as the first one (nor was it all that exciting, lol), but I figured I'd rather get content out quicker in slightly shorter chapters than try to match or beat the word count of the first chapter and take forever. =D

OH! And one last thing. The next chapter will see the story changing from T to M (as I mentioned in the last chapter was going to happen). Just lettin' ya know!


	3. Chapter 3

Anna's face hurt. Well, actually a lot of her hurt, namely the shoulder with the _hole all the way through it_, but she could ignore her shoulder, distance herself from that pain. However, she couldn't distance herself from her _face_.

She prodded the tender, swollen flesh of her cheek and winced. She was not helping herself, she knew that, but it was like having an aching tooth and wanting to poke at it constantly. She just couldn't help it.

She was just glad she couldn't see herself. Something told her that her poor face was colorful and quite probably frightening. All she could hope was that her father didn't overreact too much and want to hit things when he saw the damage. Hopefully the knowledge that Elsa had dealt with her attackers in a very painful and permanent fashion would placate him.

_Wait_. She blinked and cocked her head slightly to the side as she stared at the back of the blonde woman walking in front of her. _Elsa?_

She knew they were meant to be concentrating on locating the trail she'd left behind when she'd charged through the woods the night before so that they could find their way back to her family, but surely they could do that and talk at the same time? Anna did most everything and talk at the same time. She understood that that wasn't always a valued trait, but in this instance, really, her face hurt and talking would help keep her distracted. And, well, she was curious. "Did you say, before you ripped that arrow out –_ow_, by the way, but also thank you– did you say your name was Elsa?"

The blonde's step faltered suddenly and she stopped long enough for Anna to catch up so that they could walk side by side. Her azure eyes darted over to look at Anna then she gave a small nod. "Yes..."

"Like Princess Elsa?" Anna asked with a smile, a smile that made her face ache even more. She ignored it however (or at least just dealt with it) because she couldn't help it and, well, she liked smiling.

"Queen."

The correction came so fast that it took Anna a moment to process it. "Huh? Oh yeah, I guess that'd be right. So, like Queen Elsa then?"

Elsa seemed almost… _reluctant _to answer. "...Yes."

"Huh."

"Huh?"

The girl shrugged, at least with one shoulder. "Pretty bold of your parents to give you the same name as the then-princess-now-sorta-queen."

Elsa blinked abruptly and Anna could have sworn she saw something akin to startled confusion flash briefly across her face.

Anna turned her head to study the woman a little closer. She hadn't had a whole lot of time to actually _look_ at Elsa, not with the whole 'in the middle of almost being murdered' thing, the unconsciousness, and then waking up by means of equine molestation and detention. Now that she had a second to really observe her, though, Anna noticed things she hadn't before in any of their prior time together.

For one thing, she realized that thinking of Elsa as a "woman" was being pretty generous. Now that she was standing close, Anna could see that the blonde wasn't much older than she was, really only a few years out of her girlhood. That gave Anna a moment of pause. When had Elsa learned to fight as impressively as she had (not that Anna had seen the actual fight, what with her head covered and her eyes clenched shut, but she was still sure that it had been impressive) and why? What had happened in her life that had warranted learning to fight in such a manner and more so, learning to kill?

Anna could also see that Elsa's face was a lot more expressive than she had previously thought. Well, maybe not her face per se, but her eyes told everything that was needed to know just as long as they were paid close enough attention to. The poised mask she wore was good, certainly, –she was very well trained– but she couldn't hide her emotions completely, not with eyes as expressive as hers. Anna wondered if Elsa had any clue that she gave so much away. Perhaps she did it intentionally?

And then there was the fact that Elsa was _gorgeous_. It wasn't that Anna hadn't noticed before, because she certainly had, but up close she was even more stunning, and breathtaking, and… and… _**gorgeous**_. Her high cheekbones, the elegant slope of her nose, her long, thick eyelashes framing the deepest, purest blue Anna had ever seen. And she had freckles. Not like Anna's freckles, but instead a light dusting across her nose and cheeks that warmed up her porcelain skin just enough to provide proof of Elsa's mortality. If one stood far enough away so that the faint flecks of beautiful, flawed humanity couldn't be seen, Elsa might very well appear a goddess come to earth like those in the stories of old. And yes, it was true that Anna may have thought that very thing upon being rescued, but now she knew for sure the truth.

_Moving right along._

Anna continued to study the other girl. _Her lips_. Yes, and then there were her lips…

Pink. Perfect.

_Wait_. She was staring, staring at her lips. She needed to stop. Now. She needed to look at something el–

Anna didn't see the root and tripped right over it. She would have undoubtedly taken a very painful header into the dirt if it hadn't been for Elsa's reflexes. The older girl caught her by her uninjured shoulder and steadied her. Anna blushed at her clumsiness and breathed herself through the "Dear God, death approaches!" dropping feeling in her stomach that most people got when they thought they were about to topple over. "Sorry."

"Perhaps you should watch where you're walking instead of whatever it was you were staring at?" Elsa suggested, and Anna blushed again because she was sure that Elsa knew exactly what she had been staring at.

"Right. Yes. Good idea." Anna returned her eyes to the ground and silently berated herself. Sometimes she just got carried away, usually at the most inappropriate of times. Just like now. She took a breath. She needed to get to her family, make sure they were okay. She needed to focus. When she got to them and everything was alright, then she could do whatever, _stare _at whatever.

As if by magic or miracle, the moment Anna truly set her mind to the task, the signs they had been looking for began to appear. Snapped branches, gouges in the dirt from hastened steps, trampled brush. "I think this is it," she said.

It seemed to take Elsa a moment to pick up on the signs Anna was pointing out, but then she glanced around and nodded. "Yes, my original camp was just over that rise there," she stated, motioning to where she was talking about, "and as you came flying through it in your haste to get away, I would assume that this is your trail. Or it belongs to one of the men that were following you. Either way, it leads back to where we need to go."

Anna frowned at the mention of the men and instinctively quickened her pace as they turned to follow the trail that lead back to the caravan. Her injuries and the rough night she'd endured had left her feeling bone-weary, but she knew she would have to push through it, though she did promise herself that rest would come when she knew her family to be safe.

They walked for a while, following the trail. Anna was in the lead now as she surprisingly seemed better at tracking. With Elsa's many apparent skills, it seemed odd to Anna that the older girl wouldn't know how to track properly, but then maybe she did and she was just trying to keep Anna focused on something else so that she wouldn't stare at her or talk. Distraction was one of her family's favorite ways to keep her from being a pest, so it wouldn't have surprised her if Elsa had decided to employ the same tactic.

"Why… 'sort of'?"

Anna started slightly. Though they hadn't spent all that much time together, she had already gotten the impression that Elsa wasn't really the type to start conversations. She seemed a quieter, more introspective sort, or perhaps Anna just didn't know her well enough yet. Either way, so unexpected was the blonde actually breaking the silence first that Anna's brain had to scramble to catch up. "Huh?"

"Earlier," Elsa clarified, her eyes darting from the trail to Anna and then back down again. "You said 'sort of queen'."

"Oh, right." The redhead gave a nod.

"Well, what did you mean by that?"

"I just meant that it's kind of hard to be a real queen when you're dead," Anna told her.

Elsa frowned. "You think she's dead?"

Anna one-shoulder shrugged. "It's a popular theory. They say that Princess Elsa was killed with her parents and the Rebel Queen is just a construct, an idea, created to bring hope to the masses, to get everyone to band together."

Elsa's eyes suddenly clouded over and her mask slipped into place. Anna didn't know quite what to make of it, so she decided on "deep concentrated contemplation" of the idea she'd just presented to the older girl as to what was going on inside Elsa's head. People often fell into silent ponderings when Anna offered them ideas they hadn't considered before. Granted, those ponderings weren't quite as… _icy _as Elsa's, but perhaps she was just a _reeeally deep_ thinker...

"I mean, with the ice powers she's meant to possess, I would imagine she might be difficult to kill," Anna continued, deciding that if Elsa was going to think that hard about it, perhaps she might like to mull over all the different theories. "But at the same time, if she did have ice powers –which is also another subject of serious debate, because really, who has _ice powers_ and doesn't ever show them off? I certainly would. But anyway. _If_ she had ice powers, then why didn't she use them to save her parents? To save Arendelle from being conquered?"

"Perhaps she couldn't," Elsa said in a flat, biting tone.

Anna didn't know what _that _meant and when Elsa didn't offer more, she shrugged her good shoulder once again. "Well, powers or no powers, even if she is still alive, she never had her official coronation."

There was a pause and then Elsa turned her head to look at Anna, her eyes narrowed slightly. "That doesn't make her not queen," she said. "The coronation is simply the formal ceremony to mark the beginning of her reign. It's pageantry. Blood is what makes her the queen." As if to emphasize her point, the breeze picked up, carrying with it a faint metallic scent.

Thinking nothing of it, Anna opened her mouth to say something more, but was cut off before she could utter a word when Elsa brought her hand up sharply in a signal to stop. Anna blinked and turned her head toward the blonde, but Elsa wasn't looking at her. Her eyes were wide, cautiously darting about, searching for _something_.

"What is it?" Anna asked, instinctively lowering the volume of her voice. She looked around as well.

Elsa pointed upward through the trees ahead. "There."

Smoke.

Anna's heart began pounding in her chest. She knew what the smoke of a campfire looked like and this was not it. This was darker. This was menacing. "_No_…" she whispered, and then before she even realized what she was doing, she was running toward the smoke. She vaguely heard Elsa shout her name in alarm, but Anna didn't stop.

When she burst out of the trees into the clearing her family had set up camp in, Anna tripped and fell jarringly to her knees. The cause hadn't been a root as before or rock or anything else of the sort. Instead, when she was assaulted with the sight before her, all coherent thought seemed to leave her and her limbs seemed to turn into uncoordinated blocks of lead.

The smell was like nothing she had ever known. The smell of iron and burning flesh, of waste heated by the summer sun. She was so ill prepared to deal with such carnage, and her stomach heaved. She'd had heard many tales of such things, but _nothing_ could have readied her for this.

Men, women, children. Old and young. Everyone –_butchered_. Even the animals were dead, left to the crows and the flies and the sun. Nothing had survived the massacre.

Anna didn't actually hear Elsa's approach, but she did hear her sharp intake of breath from over her shoulder. Instinctively, Anna shifted her weight to glance back at the other girl and the ground squelched beneath her hands and knees as she did so. She stared wide-eyed at Elsa for just a beat before she brought her eyes down to look at her hands only to see that they were covered in a brownish-red substance. It took her a moment, but she then realized what it was. _Blood_. It was all over the ground. She gagged.

Though her first instinct was to turn and run, her heart demanded that she check, demanded that she _hope_. "Have to... have to check for survivors," she distantly heard herself mumble.

Behind her, she heard Elsa sigh and take a step closer. "Anna..." she started to say, but Anna shook her head at her.

"I have to," Anna told Elsa, _and herself_, as she wiped her hands on her skirts, "I _have_ to." She had to check, she had to _know_ that they were all gone... all dead.

She didn't wait for Elsa to say anything more. She pushed herself rather gracelessly back up onto her feet and started to move stiffly into the nightmare.

"Mama! Papa!" she called out, hoping, hoping, hoping desperately to hear their voices. "Sonja! Aderyn!" Her sisters. "Torrin!" Her brother. She called and called, but there was no answer from anyone.

With each body that she checked for life and found none, the more life left seemed to leave _her_. Tears blurred her eyes and she was abstractedly thankful for it. At least she wouldn't be able to remember the finite details of what she was witnessing because she couldn't see them. What she could see was agony enough. Her hands shook and her stomach twisted excruciatingly in dismay.

She found her oldest sister, Sonja, lying next to her husband, Lorne, holding hands, both dead. They'd been run through. Her sister's insides had spilled out of the slash to her abdomen onto the ground and were now being devoured by hungry insects.

Torrin she found with four arrows in his back. It looked like he'd been trying to run into the woods as she had, only he hadn't made it. She could tell by the blood smears in the dirt that even after he'd been shot, he'd seemingly still tried to drag himself to safety.

It was only when Anna found Aderyn in the high grass a few feet beyond him that she realized he'd been trying to get to her, not flee. Her sister's skirts were up around her waist, leaving her exposed. The blood coating her inner thighs showed clearly what had been done to her before she'd finally been stabbed to death. Torrin had been trying to save her. She should have known he wouldn't have tried to run. _He was not a coward like me, _she thought bitterly to herself.

Johanne, Dellan, Leighton, Aeris, Miklos, Dagrun, Ailis, Luka, Ivon, Naimi, Hazelle, Leandra, Effony. Her friends. Her family. All dead. They had all been slaughtered with no mercy.

She wasn't sure how long she searched through the devastation. It felt like hours. She'd begun feeling numb, disconnected, not herself. It felt like she was watching everything through the eyes of someone else. She stumbled disjointedly around until she finally came upon her father. He was lying in a ball on his side, his face turned into the dirt. She knew it was him by his broad shoulders and the forest green vest he always wore.

She dropped heavily to her knees beside him and just stared for a few long moments before she finally found it within her to pull him toward her, to check as she had with all the others that he truly was dead. She found the torn and broken body of her five year old little niece, Liliah, wrapped protectively in his arms. They'd been skewered together with a sword that had been thrust viciously into her father's back and driven all the way through directly into Liliah's small chest. Their murderer hadn't even bothered to pull the sword free.

She bowed her head as nausea roiled up from the pit of her stomach, rushing past the numbness that had engulfed her and making her throat seize. She could stand it no more. She stumbled to her feet and took off into the trees.

Anna didn't make it far before her knees gave out and her protesting stomach heaved, forcing out bile to the forest ground as it was the only thing she had inside. Her whole family, her friends, everyone she had grown up with, the only people she had ever known —they were all _dead._

* * *

_Author's Notes_: Sooo, that took a little longer than expected. Sorry about that! I got distracted by life and also by the new video editing software I happened to acquire recently. =D It's the first time in probably... 7 or more years that I've been able to make fanvids and I got super excited about it! And yes, I totally made an Anna/Elsa one and popped it up on the Tube of You. If you're bored enough, you should go check it out! (youtu . be/-9SIoanSe8E)

ALSO on another random note, I made one of those odd tumblr thingys, too, mostly to promote the story and my videos. I literally have no clue what I'm doing on tumblr, but I'm still gonna try! If you're interested, we should be frieeends! (icyfeistypants . tumblr . com)


	4. Chapter 4

Anna shivered as a chill bit deep into her bones. Whether it was from the shock or the suddenly overcast sky leeching the warmth from the earth, she didn't know. Perhaps the clouds had not come so suddenly, she considered as she stared listlessly at the ground. She wasn't actually sure how long she'd been sitting there.

At some point, Elsa found her. She stepped through the trees and stopped perhaps a foot from Anna. The redhead's eyes were still fixated downward. She hadn't even raised her head at the sound of the other girl's approach, and Elsa didn't attempt to coax her to do so now either. She just quietly stood there.

Somewhere in her mind, past the shock and despair, the rational part of Anna was telling her that she needed to take care of the dead, prepare them for their final passing. She was dishonoring them by letting them just lie there for the birds and the insects to feed on. But she just couldn't seem to make herself move. Collecting wood, creating pyres, and burning that many bodies just seemed to be an impossible task and the finality of it all was too agonizing to even contemplate.

Anna's people, the Veerle, were a unique type of gypsy. While they did maintain many of the same traditions as the Romani people they had originally branched from, there were a few that were unique to them, namely their funeral rituals. Whereas most Romani buried their dead and then burned their belongings, the Veerle burned everything.

For the Romani, the burning of the belongings was a superstitious ritual meant to keep the dead from attaching themselves to their possessions and returning from the afterlife to collect on old debts. For the Veerle, the burning of everything, body included, was still a way to keep the dead from rising again, but it was also a way to give the departed a loving send-off. When everything was burned, the rest of the clan would spread the ashes to the wind so that the dead could travel forever.

"I've collected wood for the pyres."

That caught Anna's attention. She raised her head and stared blankly at the other girl. "W-what?" she asked after a few beats.

"Wood," Elsa said. "I collected it for the pyres."

The amount of wood they would need for all of her clan… well, Anna just couldn't comprehend how Elsa had collected enough. She also couldn't quite process how Elsa knew… "How did you know?" Anna asked numbly. "To collect wood?"

Elsa blinked as if it hadn't occurred to her that perhaps she shouldn't know. "You are Veerle, yes?"

"Yes, but how…" Most people didn't really know that Veerle were different from most gypsies… or at least she thought most people didn't know? Anna closed her eyes. She couldn't think.

Elsa shifted her weight. It wasn't a move made of awkwardness or even discomfort. It seemed more… cautious. She glanced around the surrounding forest then up at the sky. "It's going rain soon," she said slowly. "With wet wood, it will be harder to–"

"Why are you still here?" Anna blurted out before she could think to stop herself. Elsa looked taken aback for a moment before she composed her features once more. Anna knew she should feel guilty about how she'd snapped out the question, especially after all Elsa had done for her, but right now she just couldn't. Right now, all she could feel was hollow and sick to her stomach.

Elsa seemed to be choosing her words carefully, but before she could utter them, a distant rumble of thunder vibrated the air. Anna looked up at the sky and Elsa's previous words seemed to finally push through the fog in her brain, coalescing into a jolt of understanding. If the wood got wet, it would not burn well. Her clan would be waiting even longer for their final departing and that would be on her.

Swallowing hard at the lump in her throat, she climbed unsteadily to her feet, but barely made it a step forward before she froze again. She stared past Elsa to where she knew her family lie just through the pines. Her hands shook. She had to. _She had to_.

She took another small step, then two. She paused again, this time at Elsa's side, though she didn't look at the taller girl. "I'm sorry," she whispered and then walked on before she could lose her nerve.

The moment she stepped back into the clearing, Anna's steps faltered a third time and she stopped cold. Some irrational part of her was hoping desperately that perhaps she had… well, hallucinated or had some sort of waking nightmare, that none of what she had experienced was real, but the bodies, the blood, the smoke – it all still remained.

The only difference to the agonizing scene was the rather enormous pile of wood that had been stacked at the edge of the camp. In that moment, Anna was infinitely grateful for Elsa once again and at the same time, even more perplexed. How had she done it and why? Why hadn't she left? Why help gather wood? Why save Anna in the first place?

Those questions and more raced through her mind and burned in her chest. She wanted to ask, she wanted to demand answers from the other girl, but she also knew that fervent desire stemmed less from the absolute need for truth from Elsa and more from wanting to avoid the anguish of having to prepare for her family's final goodbye.

As she stood in quiet, mournful reluctance, somewhere in the back of her mind she became abruptly aware of a whooshing sound heading toward her. She had no time to process it though before something yanked her by the collar down to the ground. She landed hard and the pain the impact sent spiking through her abused shoulder had her seeing stars.

"Stay down!" a voice hissed by her ear. _Elsa_. Only then did Anna force herself through her daze and notice the set of bolas that was now wrapped around the trunk of the pine she had been standing beside. The weapon had been meant for her. Her breath hitched in alarm. "What–" she started to ask, but Elsa cut her off by clamping her hand over her mouth.

Elsa grabbed Anna under her uninjured arm and pulled her upward and back until she was sitting flush up against her, Anna's back to Elsa's front, the blonde's arm wrapped securely around Anna's middle. "Listen to me very carefully," Elsa whispered, her breath hot against Anna's cheek. Anna nodded in understanding, though even when she did, Elsa still didn't remove her hand from across Anna's mouth. "The men who killed your family – they've come back. They're here for you."

Anna couldn't help the shiver of fear that suddenly shook her. Elsa's arm across her belly squeezed just a little bit tighter and Anna wasn't sure if it was meant to comfort her or compel her to get a hold of herself. Either way, she drew in a ragged breath through her nose and tried her very best not to panic.

Anna watched out of the corner of her eye as Elsa straightened her spine, lengthening her neck, and looked around, reminding Anna of a rabbit raised on its haunches looking for danger. A moment later, Elsa pressed her face close again and, with voice still hushed, said, "I'm going to take my hand off your mouth, but don't make a sound. Understand?" The redhead nodded. Elsa let her hand fall away from Anna's lips and used it to silently pull her sword free. "Alright, when I tell you to, you're going to follow me. Keep low, stay quiet." Anna nodded again.

A few beats passed. "Here we go," Elsa said before she let go of Anna and twisted around, fluidly rising and moving a few steps away.

Anna floundered slightly at the sudden loss of contact, but to her surprise, Elsa reached out and grasped her hand, steadying her. And she didn't let go. She steered Anna in close behind her and then lead her quietly along.

There was a shout from somewhere behind them and a branch snapped to their left. Elsa quickly pushed Anna up against a tree and pressed herself into the girl, mouthing "Shhhh." Anna was rather sure that if she wanted to make a sound, she would actually need to breathe… which she currently couldn't quite seem to remember how to do.

She watched Elsa watch their surroundings, the blonde's deep blue eyes sharp and alert. A moment later, she pushed Anna down into a crouched position and made several motions with her free hand. Anna squinted an eye as she tried to interpret them. She was pretty sure that the one finger held straight up meant "one." One man? One second? Finger to chest was indication that Elsa was talking about herself, and the two fingers doing the walking motion meant… "sneaking"? Maybe? And then there was the final flat palm facing Anna, all fingers to the sky thing which she was absolutely sure meant "stay".

…Or "five minutes"?

The gypsy girl didn't really have time to decide for sure what it all meant before Elsa made the "stay" and/or "five minutes" gesture a second time, then disappeared around the tree. Anna held her breath and did as she was (possibly) told – she stayed where she was. She felt sick to her stomach again and her hands wouldn't stop shaking. She counted off the time in her head (just in case) all while keeping a close eye and ear on the area around her.

_One, two, three, four_–

There was a slapping sound from the direction Elsa had gone followed by the very distinct thud of something solid hitting a fleshy mass.

_Eight, nine, ten_–

A grunt of pain.

_Twelve, thirteen_–

A soft hissing sound.

Anna frowned slightly, perplexed. She vaguely remembered that same sound from when she had first encountered Elsa, but she had no idea what it was.

_Seventeen, eight_–

Anna nearly squawked with fright when Elsa darted back around the tree, but apparently anticipating this, Elsa immediately clamped her hand over Anna's mouth again before she could make a sound. "It's just me," she assured the redhead, then removed her hand.

"You're bleeding," Anna said, immediately alarmed at the crimson droplet at the right corner of Elsa's lips. She reached for it without thinking and ran the pad of her thumb gently over the small cut there.

Elsa eyes widened slightly, as if startled by the touch, before she reached up and rather daintily dabbed the remainder of the blood away. She shook her head slightly. "It's nothing. A lucky shot, nothing more." She looked down at her hand for a moment and rubbed her fingers together almost like she was trying to warm them before she reached for Anna's hand once more. "Now, come on."

"Wait. A lucky shot from…?"

"Only one man. It's fine," Elsa said as she tugged at Anna's hand, trying to coax her back to her feet.

"One man? Did you…?"

The older girl's jaw suddenly tightened and she gave Anna a _look, _one that clearly relayed that she had done what she had needed to do. There was no glee in it, only anger and fact. Anna closed her mouth and allowed Elsa to pull her to her feet.

They made it several paces before Anna spoke again. "Where are we going?" she asked as quietly as possible as she followed after the other girl.

"Just over here," Elsa answered. "Shhh."

Anna frowned. Over where? And why? Was she planning on stopping? Shouldn't they be trying to escape? Where was Ma-

Her parading thoughts were knocked off course when Elsa stopped short and Anna walked right into the back of her. Elsa didn't offer her the expected bemused (or possibly irritated) glance, though Anna did notice the taller girl's brow furrow ever so slightly at the unexpected contact. She went to mumble a quick "Sorry", but then thought better of it. Elsa would probably appreciate her silence more over an apology in that moment, she decided.

Elsa glanced quickly around before she gave a slight nod, though Anna wasn't sure who it was actually meant for. "Here," the blonde said as she tugged Anna toward a copse of trees partially surrounded by a thicket. "Inside."

"Huh?" Anna frowned again.

Elsa let go of Anna's hand and used it to pull the branches back. "Crawl in, between the trees. The bushes should help to hide you." When Anna still hesitated, Elsa narrowed her eyes at her. "Do you trust me?"

Anna blinked. "What?"

Another shout echoed in the distance. Elsa tensed and glanced in the direction it had come from for just a moment before meeting Anna's eyes again. She asked the question slower this time. _"Do you trust me?" _

Swallowing, Anna nodded. "Y-yes." After everything, how could she not?

The slight softening between her eyebrows was the only indication of Elsa's relief that there was, but Anna noticed it. "Then I need you to trust me on this. Crawl in and stay down."

"Okay." Anna did as she was told, moving past Elsa and crawling hand-handedly into the tight grouping of trees, her injured arm pressed to her chest. She settled down as low as she could get, hugging her knees to her chest, before she lifted her eyes back up to look at Elsa.

After another quick glance around, Elsa crouched down so they were level with each other. "Whatever you do, do not come out until I come get you, understand?"

"Wait!" Anna exclaimed, concerned. "What are you going to do? You're not coming in too?"

Elsa gave her the faintest of smiles. "There isn't enough room," she said, "and besides, they will only continue to hunt us down. It needs to end now if we want to make a clean escape."

Anna could have sworn she saw something akin to regret flash across Elsa's cool features and her eyes inexplicably flooded with tears. "Elsa…" she croaked.

Elsa smiled at her again, a little bigger, but a little sadder as well. "I'll be back," she whispered, and then she lowered the thicket back into place.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_ This wasn't actually where I meant to go with this chapter, buuut sometimes these things happen. I shake my fist, but my brain is just like, "I do what I want."

For those who have mentioned it, don't worry, Anna will only be pulling a Lois Lane for a couple more chapters. She WILL figure out who Elsa is soon, I promise.

And random note, if you're wondering, Veerle is pronounced "VEER-LUH". =D


	5. Chapter 5

_Dammit_.

Elsa silently cursed her stupidity, then automatically scolded herself for even thinking in such an unbefitting manner. She resisted the urge to sigh. Old lessons so oft recited as a child could never truly be forgotten.

But still, she should have known that the king's soldiers would have kept an eye on the destroyed Veerle camp, especially when the men sent after Anna hadn't returned with her. Knowing of a gypsy's loyalty to clan and family, the soldiers would have known the girl would return to the caravan. In fact, _Elsa_ had known all of this, but she'd chosen to ignore her better instinct in favor of sympathy and sentimentality.

This was her fault. She had allowed her emotions, her _hope_ for a heartening outcome, to guide her and now she had to fix the mess her heart had caused. If it were just her, she wouldn't be too terribly concerned, but now she had Anna to worry about and that made everything so much more complicated.

Did she regret saving the girl in the first place? No, but part of her did somewhat regret not leaving the moment she was sure that Anna was going to survive. _Ha! But did that moment ever occur? _she wondered. She narrowed her eyes at the validity of her thoughts. From what she'd seen so far, Anna was about as useful as a puppy.

Actually, that was a rather accurate description of the girl, Elsa realized, and that was part of her problem. Puppies were cute and fun, and that was perfectly fine. Cute and fun she could hand off to someone else to take care of and not be worried or feel guilty about it at all. However, injured, sad, and now homeless… well, she couldn't possibly just abandon a puppy like that in the middle of the forest and hope to be able to live with herself afterwards. And this was exactly her issue. She was just too soft.

She mentally smacked herself. Why was she thinking about _puppies_ when there were _killers_ prowling the woods? She needed to focus.

Elsa gripped her sword more firmly in her hand and crept silently through the brush. She hadn't gotten that good of a look at what she would be facing, but she'd seen at least six men in the direction the bolas aimed at Anna had flown in from, though she expected there was more of them. They would want to be sure to secure all directions out of camp so that Anna couldn't slip away again. More complications.

If they were grouped together, she could just take them all with a big blast of power, but they clearly weren't going to make it that easy on her. No, she was going to have to locate and take care of each of them and just hope no one stumbled upon Anna while she did so.

* * *

Anna chewed her bottom lip nervously, but otherwise tried her very best not to move. She didn't want to attract the attention of anyone who might be lurking about by flailing or making noises. She bit back a sigh.

She should have known this would happen. With how everything was currently going, having a bunch of the merciless butchers show up to capture and/or kill her seemed a perfectly natural next step in the progression of absolute horribleness. She truly had no idea what she had done to warrant such an abrupt and heart-shattering change in luck, but it must have been something absolutely heinous.

The only saving grace in her impossibly devastating situation was Elsa. _Emphasis on __**saving**_, she thought to herself and worry for the other girl flared in her chest anew. This was her fault, she realized, and that thought turned her stomach. Elsa had not only saved her when she'd first been attacked, but she'd cared for her and had gone out of her way to see to it that Anna made it back safely to her family. Most people wouldn't have done that. Even if there were others brave enough to step between the king's men and their prey, they likely would have left her the moment those first four attackers had been dealt with. Elsa had gone so far above and beyond and how was Anna repaying her now? She was hiding while Elsa dealt with the people who were after _her_.

Why were they after her? Anna had absolutely no clue and that made it all the more frightening. Not many things scared her –no wait, that wasn't true. Lots of things scared her, but very few things made her feel as she did now, made her _want_ to _hide_. Anna wasn't a hider –she squinted an eye at herself as she pondered for a moment whether or not that was actual term– but this whole experience had left her feeling more lost and more terrified than she ever had before.

She didn't usually cower when she felt frightened, she didn't hide. She stood tall and faced (or more realistically, joked her way through) her fears… but these men had _murdered_ her _entire_ family. These men had cut down her father, _the strongest man she had ever known_, like he was nothing, and something told her that they had relished every moment of it. No one could fault her for being scared. No one could fault her for actually wanting to hide for once.

No one would fault her... except herself. She swallowed hard as she struggled through these thoughts. She was ashamed. Her parents had taught her to be so much stronger and this was how she was honoring the lessons they had taken so long to teach her? She was just letting Elsa fight, and possibly get injured or worse, for her when it had never been Elsa's fight to begin with.

She couldn't, she just couldn't. She _wouldn't_. She wasn't a fighter, but there _had_ to be something she could do. She could be spontaneous, she could be clever. She would figure it out. She always did.

Anna peeked through the trees she was hidden within to be sure there wasn't anyone around and when she'd confirmed the coast was clear, she crawled out. She was going to help Elsa.

* * *

Elsa's sword made a wet slurp as it slid free from the soldier's chest and she watched as he sank to the ground, life fading completely from his hazel eyes a few ticks after his back met the dirt. He couldn't have been any older than her, still a boy really, and she felt a twinge of remorse.

She gritted her teeth and chased the emotion away. There was no time for it now, nor could there be any place for it ever if she wanted to win the war that was coming. She hated it, hated _this_, but oh, she was good at it. _Killing_. She had to be, not just for her own survival, but for her parents and in the name of the restoration of Arendelle. Her people were counting on her.

And Anna was counting on _this_, on her clearing out the lingering threat so that she could tend to her family and then move on. Elsa would do it for her as there was no possible way she could let the girl try to combat the problem herself, especially when it wasn't even Anna's fight. True, they were there _for_ Anna it seemed, but it was still all because of Elsa. She couldn't let Anna pay (more than she already had) for wrongs that were not her own especially when the fight had never been Anna's to begin with.

Firmly seizing her resolve, Elsa turned away from the young man's body and considered the situation. Two down, at least four more to go, though she was betting on more. This wasn't one of the king's patrols, those usually consisted of four men. This was one of his elite enforcement units, a squad of men specially trained in combat and "compliance" techniques. To Elsa (and most everyone else in Arendelle), they were just a pack of vicious animals in shiny armor.

Enforcement units came in groups of ten to twelve men. If this was the same group of men that had initially attacked Anna's caravan, which Elsa fully suspected it was, they would be down the four men that she had originally saved the younger girl from, plus the two Elsa had already dispatched. Considering she'd just killed a boy basically, she was betting on twelve as he had likely been a new recruit. New recruits were only added to full units and they always came in pairs...

…Pairs that were always made to work together, which meant his partner was close by.

The moment the thought crossed her mind, she heard a light tread behind her and whipped around just in time to bring up her weapon, blocking the sword flying in a downward arc toward her head. The block was sloppy and the force of the blow was arm-numbingly jarring. She mentally berated herself for her inattentiveness and danced back out of the way.

Elsa took a moment to study her opponent. He was young, too, but unlike the gangliness of the other, this recruit was a beast of a man. He was easily twice the size of his dead partner. She took in his unbalanced stance and the heat in his eyes and sighed. All muscle and rage. In a battle of strength alone, he would beat her no contest, but against her agility and a lifetime of training (and her powers, too, if need be)? Well...

"I don't want to hurt you," she said, which wasn't entirely untrue. She didn't _want_ to hurt anyone (except for perhaps the king), but she would do so with precision and finality if that was what was needed.

The man growled.

Something told her that it was definitely going to be needed in this instance.

With a roar, he charged at her like raging bull, nostrils flaring and eyes wild. She waited, waited, _waited_ until the very moment he was upon her, then sidestepped out of his path. Unable to halt his momentum, he charged past her and as he did, she lashed out with her sword, the blade biting deep into the back of his closest knee, severing muscle and tendon.

The soldier let out a sharp shout of pain and his knee collapsed beneath him, driving him into a skidding kneeling position in the leaves. He didn't stay there long however. With a grunt of agonized effort, he pushed himself back onto his feet and whirled around to face Elsa once more. His face was red with fury. He advanced on her again, this time much slower, dragging his injured leg as he made his approach.

Elsa brought up her sword in front of her and slipped into a defensive stance. As she watched him lumber towards her, she almost lamented how easy it was going to be to dispatch the soldier. Not because she longed for a more challenging fight (for Anna's sake, she was trying to get everything done as quickly as possible after all), but because it just didn't seem fair to kill someone who really had no chance. And she _did_ have to kill him. She couldn't just incapacitate him and move on. She couldn't risk that he'd report back to his superiors, to the king, and say that he'd seen her.

The beast of a man reached her and reared his arms up, intending to bring his sword back down in a mighty cleaving blow, but the moment he reached the apex of the upward swing, Elsa thrust her sword forward and drove it through his ribs into his heart. He jolted to a stop and his weapon dropped out of his hands, falling to the ground behind him.

Meeting his startled gaze, Elsa quietly said, "I'm sorry." She twisted the blade in his chest.

* * *

Perhaps this hadn't been the best plan, Anna considered as she darted from a tree to a log and crouched down behind it. Well, no, helping Elsa was definitely a _good_ plan, it was what she wanted to do. The problem was that, well, she couldn't _find_ Elsa.

Anna considered herself fairly adept at tracking, as she had demonstrated when she'd located and followed her own trail back to the caravan earlier that day. She'd grown up on the road and sometimes there were great distances between one town and the next, meaning that food often had to be hunted for. Being able to track had been one of the life skills she had learned as a child, but there was a big difference between tracking an animal for dinner and tracking a human who was actively attempting to remained concealed. Elsa was being stealthy and that was making things difficult.

At least she knew the general direction in which Elsa had gone, Anna reasoned. She'd find her eventually. _Unless she's dead already_, her mind whispered, _or unless she hid you as part of a ploy to get you to stay still so she could abandon you and slip away._

_**No.**_

She was almost startled by her own vehemence, but at the same time, she knew it was warranted. Elsa hadn't abandoned her to her fate and she was most certainly not dead either. Anna didn't know _how_ she knew or _why_ she had such faith in the other girl, but the conviction burned steadily there in her chest and she chose to hold tight to it. They were going to make it through.

There was a rustling sound and Anna froze like a deer searching for an approaching predator. Her lungs stilled and her eyes darted around, trying to spy any signs of danger. A few beats passed and she saw nothing. She released the breath she was holding.

Glancing around, she spied a sturdy looking branch and picked it up. For security, just in case. She couldn't claim to have ever beaten anyone with a stick before, but she reckoned it likely wasn't something that require all that much skill. Swing, connect, repeat. It seemed simple enough. With Elsa roaming about, clearing the way, she doubted she would need it anyway, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Checking one more time that the coast was clear, Anna moved out from behind the log and continued forward.

_Thud_.

Anna whipped around to see that a man had dropped down from the trees behind her. She immediately brought her branch up and held it in front of her. He grinned.

"I, uh, I don't want to hurt you?" she tried, which was most certainly true. Anna absolutely _hated_ the thought of hurting someone else. The man reached for his sword and pulled it out in a slow, exaggerated manner. He held it out in front of him in the same way that Anna was holding her tree branch. Clearly he did not have the same qualms that Anna did about hurting others.

She sucked in a breath. This was it. She was going to have to attack him. She _had_ to do this, not just for her own survival, but for her family and for Elsa, too.

The soldier began to circle and she copied his movements, trying to keep him as far from her as possible. "This would go a lot easier if you would just give up now," he said.

"I have no doubt," Anna replied, trying her very best to keep her voice from shaking. "But you see, I'm already late getting home and my family will be quite worried, so if you'd please step aside–"

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression turning from amused to straight mean. "Can't worry about you when they're dead."

Anna swallowed hard and struggled to remain composed. "I'm-I'm afraid I don't understand," she said, trying to inject as much strength into her voice as possible. Lying _really_ wasn't her forte. "I think you've got me mistaken with someone else. I'm just a girl. Walking." She nodded. "Walking through the woods." He was looking less and less impressed with each word she spoke and it was making Anna feel more and more uneasy. "On my way home?" He tightened his grip on his sword and she almost squeaked out the last words.

"You're not a very good liar for a gypsy," he said.

She gave an indignant little gasp. If there was one thing that really rankled her, it was prejudice against gypsies, especially the belief that they were all liars and thieves as this man was implying now. And what bugged her even more was that he was insinuating that _she_ was a lying. Nevermind the fact that she actually _was _lying, that wasn't the point. This was a one time, trying-to-prevent-herself-from-getting-captured-or-run-through-with-a-sword thing. _The point was_ that she was not a liar and it was wrong of him to just assume she was because of her (potential) gypsy heritage.

Then again, the wicked glint in his eyes gave her the distinct impression that this man did a lot of wrong things and likely enjoyed them as well.

"I'm not lying," she said as firmly as she could manage… which turned out to be more strangled than firm.

"You're wearing gypsy clothes," he deadpanned.

She glanced down at herself. _Oh. Right._ "Would you believe me if I told you I got them at the Sunday market?" she tried, meeting his gaze one more time and trying not to cringe.

"No," the soldier said. "Now drop your little stick and let's go."

"Go where?" Now she was just stalling. For what, she wasn't entirely sure. Perhaps for time to come up with a brilliant plan, or for Elsa to show up. At this point, she'd even take some sort of random miracle. Anything would do. She really wasn't picky.

The man's face grew hard now and more than a little menacing. "_Drop the stick_," he repeated, and his tone left no room for argument.

Anna's felt a bubble of panic rise up her throat from her chest. She glanced quickly around, but when she didn't see her miracle or Elsa or anything else, she finally conceded. She dropped the branch in her hand and straightened her spine. If he wanted her dead, he would have killed her the moment he dropped out of the trees. He wanted her for something, just as the others had. That gave her time. She would figure something out.

_Hopefully_.

* * *

_Author's Notes_: Hey all! Firstly, thank you so much for all the follows/favs and, of course, the reviews! You all are amazing.

Secondly, just a random note, I don't actually have a beta, so I apologize for all the spelling/grammar fails you have encountered throughout this piece. I always reread several times before posting new chapters, but sometimes errors still manage to sneak in!

And one last thing, fear not, Elsa and Anna will reunite one again in the next chapter. =D


	6. Chapter 6

Anna kept turning her head to the side to spy the soldier behind her. He still had his sword in his hand, but was holding it loosely as if he wasn't at all worried that she may run. It irked her a bit that he found her so little a threat. She could be a highly trained warrior in disguise or at the very least, one of the worlds fastest sprinters. She was neither, of course, but he didn't know that, he didn't know her, and it was rude of him just to assume.

She narrowed an eye at him. First he'd assumed she was a gypsy and a liar and now he was assuming that she couldn't handle herself against him. This man made a lot of assumptions and that was just… well… rude.

Not looking where she was going, she almost tripped over a log. She let out a little squawk of surprise and windmilled her arms in a desperate attempt to recover her balance. Thankfully a lifetime of coordination issues had taught her the fine art of regaining her equilibrium while on the very precipice of full body collapse and she managed to keep herself from toppling over. She smiled a small victorious smile when she steadied herself, but the moment she looked down to make note of the logs size and location, the smile immediately slipped from her lips.

There was a boot, a boot that was attached to her log, except it wasn't a log at all, but rather a leg. A pair of legs, in fact, and as her eyes traveled up those legs, she came to realize that they were quite solidly attached to a body of a man who had been (rather hastily, by the looks of it) half-shoved beneath a dense thicket. The bottom half of him, or at least from the knees down, was protruding out from beneath the bushes. Whoever had hidden him there had attempted to hide the visible length of him by covering it with leaves, dirt, and other matter from the surrounding area. Anna had dislodged a lot of the camouflage when she'd tripped over the legs.

It was another soldier. _Elsa_, she realized. She just stood there and stared.

"Stop your stalling, girl," her captor grumbled, giving her rough shove from behind. The contact and added momentum was unexpected and this time she did fall, her feet catching on the legs of the body again. She went sprawling to the forest floor with a leaf-crunching _thwump_.

Anna pushed herself back up into a sitting position, biting through the strain it put on her shoulder, and maneuvered her torso around to face the man just in time to see the look of angry recognition pass over his face when he realized what exactly she had tripped over. He crouched and pressed his fingers to the downed soldier's throat, checking for a pulse, then he turned his dark eyes on Anna and narrowed them. "Did you do this?" he asked stormily.

She quickly shook her head, rather afraid in that moment of what he might do if he again thought she was lying.

He straightened and took a menacing step toward her, causing her to flinch back, but he paused mid-way through his second stride when something seemed to catch his eye. His focus changed completely and he moved purposefully past Anna toward whatever he had noticed.

Anna pushed herself onto her knees and scooched around a bit to look where he was going. She quickly realized he had located a second body when she watched him crouch down and reach under another grouping of bushes, brushing leaves and dirt away to reveal a second lifeless face. He stayed crouched there longer than he had the first, his back to Anna.

It immediately occurred to her that this was it. She had to get away and this very moment was her opportunity! She couldn't just run, he'd catch her easily. She had to at least stall him. She looked frantically around, spying a sturdy looking branch a step or two away. She rose and moved as quietly as she could to it, picking it up and grasping it tightly in her hands. She crept slowly toward the man.

_Twelve paces…_

_Seven paces…_

_Four paces…_

She was just two paces away when she inadvertently stepped on something that made a very distinct _crrrack_ sound. The man whirled around, but before he could process what was happening, and before she could chicken out, Anna whipped the branch around as hard as she could and connected it solidly with the side of his head.

The man let out a howl of pain and slumped to the ground. Anna didn't stick around to see if he got up again. She took off.

* * *

_This is taking too long_, Elsa thought to herself as she crept toward an outcropping of rocks. She wondered if it had actually been the best idea to leave Anna alone. It worried her, the thought of what the redhead could be getting herself into in that moment. For all Elsa knew, the girl had already been discovered and killed.

_No_, she forcefully impressed upon herself. _Anna is fine_. She would stay put exactly where Elsa had put her and she would stay hidden. No one would find her, and when Elsa was done taking care of the enforcement unit, she would take the girl wherever the rest of her family was. She would be safe. That was the plan. It was a good plan and it was going to work. She resolutely nodded at her own thoughts and then pushed them aside to focus on her task.

She had the hood of her tunic up at this point in an effort to remain hidden. Blue, of course, wasn't exactly camouflage out in the woods, but it still didn't stand out as much as her bright white-blonde hair and pale skin did. It did occur to her however, as she now thought about it, that perhaps she should invest in some clothing of more natural colors rather than her favorite one. At the very least she should remember to keep her dark brown cloak on while traveling.

In all honestly, the blue was kind of a statement color. Whether it was a full tunic, some embroidery around the collar of a less showy piece, or even just something as simple as a piece of a ribbon braided through her hair, she always liked to have some blue visible. When she visited towns and villages in an attempt to rally people to her cause, the blonde hair and the blue were the visual proof that the Rebel Queen was in fact alive, well, and ready to fight for her people. It also put her enemies on edge as well, which was a plus.

In fact, it put the king on edge so very much that he'd decided to ban use of the color at all. He'd declared that anyone found wearing or even possessing something that was blue would be convicted of treason and Elsa was quite sure he would have burned the sky just to leech the color from the heavens. And thus blue had become the official color of the rebellion.

She heard a murmur through the trees and stilled to listen more closely. Voices. Definitely voices.

She continued silently forward, made it to the outcropping, and crouched down behind it, slowly peeking out. She immediately spotted the source of the sounds. There were three men about sixty or so feet through the trees, conversing with one another. It was the unit commander, Elsa realized, and two of his men.

This was good. Three in one spot meant she was that much closer to ridding herself and Anna of the threat they posed. That only left three more to find.

She heard movement behind her. _Correction. Two more to find. _

She tightened her grip on her sword, but otherwise didn't give any indication that she had heard the man approaching her from over her shoulder. She waited until he was almost upon her and heard the slight intake of breath he took as he prepared himself for whatever attack he had planned before she whipped around, still crouched, and swept her leg at his, knocking his feet out right from under him. He landed hard on his back. He had no time to recover before she was standing over him with her sword at his throat.

And then suddenly there was a sword at _her_ throat, not from the man on the ground, but from the man who had apparently crept up on her when she'd been distracted taking down the first soldier. This one was certainly not like the two recruits she had already faced. This one was trained. "Drop your weapon," he firmly commanded.

Elsa knew that if she tried anything he would slit her throat, and yes, she could freeze them both, but the only way to do that would be a big burst of power and considering she hadn't even faced the unit commander yet, she really wanted to reserve her energy for later. She dropped her sword and watched as the downed man scrambled up onto his feet, grabbing both her sword and his own as he did so. He glared at her.

"Kill her."

She watched from the corner of her eye as the man with the sword to her neck ignored the other and kept his gaze locked on her. "What are you doing, sneaking around here?" he asked her.

"Tor, she's wearing blue. She's guilty of treason. Just kill her and be done with it," the first interrupted. "We don't have time to waste."

Again the other man, Tor, paid no heed to the first. "Will you not just answer the question?"

Elsa remained silent.

"Tor–"

"He would have me kill you outright," Tor said, his voice a deep rumble. "Is that what you wish or would you like to attempt to explain why you would defy the king so openly?"

Elsa ground her teeth together. Oh yes, she would very much like to explain why she would do such a thing. In fact, she would like nothing more than to explain it to the king himself right before she freezing him solid and then shattering the remaining icy monument into a million little pieces.

Right now, however, she had to be smart. Tor was not one of the three men she had spotted moments before the other man had approached her from behind. That meant if she could get them all together, she could deal with them as a group, get things done faster. When she had, only one would remain. Hopefully.

"Very well," Tor said. "Have it your way." He added pressure to the blade against Elsa's throat. She felt a trickle of wet warmth slide down the side of her neck before she even felt the sting of the cut.

"I have information," she said in a rush, stilling Tor, "about the girl you're looking for."

He raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Gypsy. Redhead. I know where she is," Elsa told him. "Take me to your commander and I'll give all of you the girl's location."

"Why don't you just tell _us_ where she is?" he asked, applying a little more pressure to her throat.

Elsa didn't falter when she felt even more blood slip down her neck. She had been tutored for years in formal etiquette and diplomacy. She knew showing fear or any indecision would be seen as open invitation for the wolves to descend. Of course, the lessons had been meant to be applied to issues of government and had had less to do with literal sword-to-throat matters, but Elsa figured the idea was just about the same. She kept her expression resolute and her head held high.

"Because," she said, "if I tell _you_, you'll simply kill me here where I stand."

"And what exactly do you think the commander will do?" the other man asked snidely.

She gave a small shrug. "Perhaps offer a helpful citizen a little good will? I mean, after all, capturing this gypsy girl certainly seems far more important than dealing with me..."

For the first time since the conversation had started, the two men glanced at each other. The expression on the face of the man with the sword didn't change, but the other one smirked just a bit. It was clear that they both knew, just as Elsa did, that their commander would no more offer any good will to her than a wolf would to a lamb.

"Very well," Tor said, "but try anything and I will run you through."

"I understand."

Tor lowered his sword, though he kept it ready, and grabbed Elsa by the upper arm, steering her in the direction where she had spied the other three men. The other followed behind them.

The men flanking the commander immediately stiffened to alertness at the sound of their approach, but relaxed a bit when they saw Tor and the other.

The commander frowned slightly and looked Elsa up and down, clearly suspicious. "What is this?" he asked, his voice like grinding gravel.

Elsa kept her head tilted slightly down so that the commander couldn't really see her face. If anyone would recognize her, it would be him. She wanted to get closer before that happened.

"We found her lurking about, sir. She says she has information on the girl," Tor replied, roughly shoving her forward to stand before the barrel-chested leader of the group. "Go on, tell him."

Hunching forward a bit, Elsa rubbed the arm Tor had been tightly gripping, both to erase the sting of the bruising pressure he'd applied and also to appear frightened and unsure. "First I need assurances," she said softly.

"Speak up," the commander ground out. "Did you say you want assurances?"

Elsa feigned a timid nod. "Yes," she said. "Promise me my freedom and I will tell you where she is."

The commander's dark eyes darted from Elsa to Tor for just a moment before his hand shot out and he snatched her forward to him. "You will make no demands of us," he spat. "You made the choice to commit treason and therefore have forfeit all rights to your life. Tell us what we want to know _now_ and your death will be quick. Delay us any longer and you will suffer fully for your blatant crimes. What is your choice?"

Elsa tilted her head back and allowed her hood to fall away. She spied in dark amusement the very moment it processed in the commander's brain who exactly she was. His eyes went wide and he shoved her back, drawing his weapon. "You fool!" he yelled at Tor. "You brought the Rebel Queen right into our midst!" The small clearing echoed with the distinct _shink!_ sound of all his men pulling out their weapons as well.

As a child, Elsa had spent a great deal of time in the library and in most of the stories she'd read, the adventuring hero had almost always come up with a witty little phrase to say right before he defeated his enemy. For this moment, Elsa could think of several ranging from, "You were saying something about a quick death?" to "For _your_ blatant crimes against Arendelle, you have forfeit all rights to _your_ lives," but to her, they all tasted bitter. It was clear the authors of those stories had not actually been in any of the situations they had placed their heroes in because there was no levity in moments like this. It was cold and terrifying and nauseating, and she _hated_ it.

But there was no choice. Before any of the men could make a move on her, she brought up her hands and released the full force of her icy powers on them.

* * *

Anna was quite pleased with herself. She almost couldn't believe that she had taken out her captor. Did she enjoy hurting another person? Absolutely not, and she hoped she never would have to again. She was, however, happy to know that when push came to shove, she could handle her own.

She couldn't let it go to her head though, she told herself. While she had triumphed, the woods were still very dangerous now. She needed to find Elsa as soon as possible.

The moment the thought passed through her mind, a blast of near-arctic wind whooshed through the trees and barreled into her, chilling her face and staggering her steps. She wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered.

It was then that she noticed accompanying the strange wind was the pained cries of people. Her eyes widened in alarm. What was going on? All the old tales that she had been told as a child to scare her came rushing back and she wondered for half a fearful second if the spirits of the dead had returned and the screams she was hearing were those of the people they were slaughtering for revenge. It was almost enough to keep her from making the decision to go see exactly what was going on. _Almost_.

Should she be running towards the sounds of danger? Probably not, but for all she knew, Elsa could be there, too! Her friend could be in trouble and Anna just had to help. She tore off in the direction of the screams.

Her surge toward possible death lasted for only a few seconds before she nearly stumbled upon a very confusing and startling sight. She saw as she peered around a grouping of birch trees that Elsa _was_ in fact there in the middle of the chaos, except instead of being _in_ danger, she was the one _causing_ it.

The blonde girl's back was to Anna and she stood hunched, both arms outstretched, hands almost like claws. White, swirling tendrils jetted out from her palms, whipping through the air with a biting _hiiisssss_, encapsulating two soldiers in thick blocks of ice. Anna suddenly realized that _this_ was the sound that she'd heard twice before. It had been Elsa using her ice powers.

That thought immediately struck Anna smack dab between the eyes. _Ho-ly... _Ice powers. Elsa had _**ice powers**_!

_Wait a minute…_

Further contemplation was abruptly halted when Elsa suddenly stopped blasting everything and dropped her arms limply to her sides. Anna thought she was just… done... freezing everyone, but then the other girl suddenly swayed and collapsed to her knees. Elsa bowed forward, one hand braced against the ground and the other pressed to her head.

Anna's eyes went wide and she began to step out from behind the birch trees, Elsa's name poised worriedly on her lips, but movement a few feet ahead of her made her pause. She froze and held her breath. She thought maybe she was seeing things, but then she saw the shadows move again and realized what exactly it was.

_Oh, no... No no no. _It was him, the man she'd cracked across the cranium with the branch. He stepped out from behind cover and began moving silently forward in the direction of the near-prostrate blonde. He, like Elsa, had his back to Anna, but she could clearly make out his dark intent simply by the set of his broad shoulders and how he gripped his sword. He was not there to help, and Elsa hadn't even noticed him. He was going to kill her!

She had to do something.

Anna wasn't skilled in all that much, but there was one thing she could do. She quickly looked around. She just needed to find… Aha! She scrambled out from behind the trees and grabbed the rock she had spotted. She tossed it twice in her hand to get a feel for the weight and shape of it. The rock, which was round enough to fly true, but also jagged enough to cause damage, was a little smaller than an apple and had a nice heft to it. It would work well.

He was about five or so feet from Elsa when Anna startled him into a halt and brought his attention whipping around to her by yelling, "It is _not_ _nice_ to ambush people!" And then she chucked the rock with wicked accuracy and speed, beaning the soldier right in the temple. He dropped to the ground unconscious.

Anna grinned triumphantly and that's when she realized that her cry had brought the blonde's attention around to her as well. It occurred to Anna then that perhaps she should have just called out to Elsa and let _her_ deal with the attacker, as she was better equipped for such a thing, but then again, Anna had never been one to fully think things through. Oh well, it was done now and it had worked. That's what mattered.

But then she looked more closely at Elsa and was alarmed to see that her complexion had turned strangely sallow since they'd last been together, she had purpling under her eyes, and tremors seemed to be shaking her entire form. Perhaps she _wouldn't_ have been able to deal with the man...

Both worry and relief raged in her chest and Anna ran to the other girl. "Elsa!" she exclaimed, sliding down onto her knees the moment she was close enough and wrapping her arms around her (at least as well as she could with her injury). She hugged her as tight as she could manage. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? I was so worried!"

She felt Elsa stiffen in her hold and immediately realized that perhaps her friend didn't actually enjoy being hugged. She pulled back and gave her a brief sheepish look before she spied the splash of crimson running down Elsa's neck. "Oh my God, you _are_ hurt!" She reached forward and titled Elsa's head to the side so that she could get a better look at it.

"Anna, I'm-I'm alright," Elsa said, moving her chin out of the redhead's grasp, and Anna could have sworn she heard surprise in the declaration. Anna brought her eyes over to meet Elsa's and saw clear, confused shock there, though she wasn't sure what it was about. She cocked her own eyebrow of confusion up when she noted that Elsa's complexion had returned to normal and she no longer seemed to be shaking. Perhaps she'd just been seeing things before? A trick of the light perhaps?

And then a realization slammed into her so hard she nearly saw stars. "By God," she gasped, "you're-you're… with the name and the–" she made a sweeping motion down the side of her head and over her shoulder, miming the fall of Elsa's hair, "and the pew pew." She shot her one hand out and held it like she was firing ice from her palm just as she'd seen Elsa do, but then she paused and glanced up thoughtfully. "I guess it's really more like a _hissssss_ than pew pew, but you get what I'm saying."

Elsa was just staring at her.

"I mean, holy buckets, you have _ice powers_!" She was meant to be pointing out that she now realized _who_ Elsa was, but she was getting distracted because, well, magic! She looked around in awe at what Elsa had done. The entire clearing they were in looked as if it had been hit by a snowy comet. Trees were blown back and leaning away from the source of the assault, heavy with ice, the whole area was blanketed in at least six inches of snow, flakes were fluttering down from a now-thinning layer of clouds above. The whole scene was absolutely breathtaking.

Anna took in the large blocks of ice that contained the soldiers. They were breathtaking as well, though not necessarily in a good way. She could clearly see the last moments of their lives captured and frozen still in ice, each face a horror-and-pain-filled visage.

Elsa must have followed the line of Anna's gaze because she pulled away a little and tentatively asked, "Does that scare you?"

Anna immediately brought her eyes back around to meet Elsa's. "Does what scare me?" she asked, frowning a little in confusion. Elsa looked suddenly and incredibly vulnerable in that moment and Anna didn't understand why.

"Me," Elsa replied softly, "having ice powers."

Anna's frown deepened. "Are you kidding me?" And now Elsa looked confused. Anna immediately rushed to elaborate. "No! I think they're _amazing_. I mean, look at this!" She gestured around to the wintery scene. "It's beautiful!" She paused and squinched up her face a little. "Well, okay, human icicles? A little unnerving," she admitted, but then she smiled gently and reached forward, squeezing one of Elsa's hands. "But they were going to hurt us. There was no other choice. You saved my life. _Again_."

The sheer relief that swept over Elsa's face made Anna's heart ache for her and she wondered what exactly had been said or done to the older girl to make her think that her powers should be anything but admired and marveled at. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Elsa reached up and gingerly touched the thin cut to her neck. She glanced down at the blood on her fingers before she nodded. "Yes, I'll be fi–"

A savage roar from over Anna's shoulder cut off the blonde and they both whipped their head toward the sound just in time to see the man Anna had knocked out (twice) standing over them and swinging his sword down with ferocious rage.

Anna felt Elsa rip her hands free from under her own and though she wasn't looking at the older girl, she was sure Elsa was bringing them up to bear. Before she could fire off her powers, however, a huge white streak tore across the clearing and barreled into the man, knocking him away from the two girls and onto his back.

It was Marsh!

The soldier barely got out a strangled yelp before the huge horse reared up and brought his hooves back down on top of the man with deadly force. Silence fell. The horse made the same move several times until he seemed satisfied, then he trotted over to Elsa's side.

Elsa rose to her feet and pulled Marsh's head to her, pressing her face into his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered to him before she looked down at Anna, giving her a small smile, "both of you."

There, on her knees, staring up at this vision of regal beauty and her noble, protective steed, Anna was very abruptly reminded of what exactly she'd realized and had been trying to say before. "Oh my God, you're the Rebel Queen."

* * *

_Author's Notes_: And there you go, dear readers, Anna now realizes who Elsa is. You may rejoice, she is no longer Lois Lane! Victory! It was actually meant to happen later in the story and it was going to be fairly amusing, but I decided that this would be a neat way to do the big reveal as well.

Thank you so much to those who have reviewed and shared your praise and thoughts with me, and also to those who have favorited/followed. Seeing all the notices in my inbox always makes my heart sing!

I am contemplating trying my hand at some TRQ fanart as well, but it has been just about a billion years since I drew anything so we shall see.

More to come!


	7. Chapter 7

"You're the actual real live Rebel Queen! The last remaining rightful royal to the Arendelle throne! Winter's Promise!"

Elsa watched the girl pace. She wasn't sure if these were questions she was meant to be answering or just excited exclamations of fact. Anna was a little hard to read when she was flailing.

Of course, her slight befuddlement over Anna's antics could have been partially due to the fact that Elsa was distracted by her own flurry of confusing thoughts. She just couldn't quite process what exactly had happened a few minutes before. She had used her powers, released a huge blast in order to freeze the remainder of the king's men, and as a result, had (quite predictably) been left sapped of strength just as she always was when she used that much power.

But then, _then_ Anna had come running up and had hugged her. Was she confused by the hug? No, not really. She was, however, completely baffled by the fact that upon contact with the other girl, all of her energy had returned. It usually took hours, a hot meal, and sometimes a long rest for her to regain her strength back like that.

"The King's Bane! The Biting Chill! The Light of Hope's Dawn! The-the-the… well, there are others, but some of them really shouldn't be repeated."

_No, no, they should not_, Elsa silently agreed, forcing her attention back to the gypsy girl's words. She had many titles and most of them were not particularly kind.

Anna actually stopped to take a breath. She stared at the ground with a thoughtful expression on her face. "How did I not realize this earlier?" she wondered aloud before she raised her head back up and narrowed an eye at Elsa. "Why didn't _you _tell me earlier?"

"It wasn't important." Elsa hadn't intended for Anna to find out who she was at all. It was just easier and safer that way. It was one thing to reveal her identity to those she was trying to recruit to her cause, but telling other people who she would likely never see again would just put them, and the rebellion, in danger.

"Wasn't important?! I've been going on and on about you and your parents and I've been rude and inconsiderate and mouthy and-and-and _oh my God, I'm still doing it_." Anna's mouth snapped shut with an audible click and a look dawned across her face that gave Elsa the impression that it was _**just now**_ fully occurring to the girl who she was really speaking to. "I'm, uh, I'm sorry… Your Maje–"

"Please don't," Elsa immediately interrupted. This was the moment she always hated.

"Huh?"

"I'd prefer it if you would just called me Elsa," she explained.

Anna frowned slightly, clearly confused. "But–"

"I know," Elsa interrupted again. "You mean well," everyone always did, "but leave it be? Please?"

"Okay…" The girl's following silence had Elsa thinking that that would be the end of it, but then Anna's brow furrowed even more and she took a breath, and Elsa braced herself for the question she knew was coming. "But why?"

Elsa should have known that she wouldn't actually leave it be. She hadn't known the girl long, but she'd already come to the conclusion that Anna wasn't the type to just blindly do what was requested of her. The fact that she was there and hadn't remained hidden like Elsa had told her to seemed proof of that. "Security," she supplied. "I can't have people just walking around calling me by my titles. That could get a lot of people killed, myself included. It's safer if everyone just uses my first name."

And that was true, but it wasn't the full truth. The full truth was that on top of the potential danger, she simply hated it. Every utterance of "Queen Elsa" or "Your Majesty" she heard from others was a fiery stab of remembrance in her chest, reminding her over and over of what she had lost. She hated that it had been her failure that had earned her the position, the titles.

The title of ruler had cost her parents their lives, had cost Elsa nearly everything. Such a coveted position, but so few understood the responsibilities that came with it… the _horrors_ that came with it. Truly, if Elsa had had a choice, she would have divested herself of it right from the very start. She would have traded luxury for poverty in a heartbeat if it would have saved her parents from their agonizing fate.

But then at the same time, she also felt protective of her position, protective of her right to rule, protective of the people who lived within her kingdom. It was her birthright, everything she had been raised to be. Everything her parents had always wanted her to be.

And yet still everything she now dreaded being.

Before when Anna had been sharing the theories going around about the Rebel Queen, when Elsa had so quickly and fiercely defended herself when Anna had suggested that the queen (she) was dead or perhaps not really a queen, her rebuttal hadn't really been meant to counter the redhead's words, but rather they had been aimed at herself to (re-) convince herself that being queen was her blood-born due and her distinct responsibility. It was to remind herself that slipping away into oblivion, into a nameless life, was not an option and it never would be.

Anna gave a slow nod of understanding. "Security. Okay," she said. She met Elsa's eyes, a small frown still marring her features. "But really, I _am_ sorry. I didn't–"

"–You didn't know," Elsa supplied, softening her expression a fraction. "It's alright." Anna didn't look quite convinced and Elsa thought to reach forward and squeeze the younger girl's arm in reassurance, but immediately banished the idea, instead clenching her hands tightly at her sides.

_Not with these hands_, she thought darkly. They were hands of destruction, of death. She could offer no solace with them, no comfort, not until the war was over. Maybe not even then.

The topic having made her uncomfortable, Elsa sought a way to move past it as quickly as possible and settled on focusing ahead. She mentally cringed when she remembered what was in store for them.

The adrenaline from their close encounters with the king's men or the (apparent) excitement over discovering Elsa's identity seemed to have momentarily made the redhead forget about needing to tend to her fallen family members and Elsa was loath to remind her of her pain, of the bleak task ahead, but they couldn't stay there forever. "Anna, we must tend to your family now." Elsa watched as the girl's eyes widened and her face drained of all color, and she felt a great swell of sadness for her.

* * *

Anna couldn't believe she'd forgotten. No, she hadn't _forgotten_, that was impossible. She just hadn't been _thinking_. She'd allowed herself to get distracted, to ignore her responsibilities, because… well, it was easier. It was easier to not think about it. Not thinking about it meant she didn't have to face it, but now she could avoid it no longer.

Swallowing hard, she turned her head to look around, trying to figure out where they were. She hadn't exactly been paying all that much attention when she'd been fleeing from the one soldier and trying to locate Elsa.

"This way," Elsa said quietly, grasping Marsh's reins and leading him in the direction Anna had been trying to determine.

By the time they reached the clearing, the build-up of dread had Anna feeling like she was going to vomit. The bodies all still remained (unsurprisingly, though Anna may have been hoping…) in the same positions as before, but the fires that had been set to most of the caravans were mostly out now. The clouds had darkened and the thunder that had been rumbling in the distance had grown closer.

Her steps faltered and she stopped just short of entering the camp. She couldn't do this.

_I have to. I __**have**_ _to_.

_But I can't. I can't, I can't. _She dropped her face into her hands. A pained breath hitched in her throat.

Either Anna had spoken aloud unknowingly or Elsa was just reading her body language because she quietly said, "Let me help you."

Anna brought her eyes up and looked back over her shoulder at the older girl. "You can't," she said desolately. "You aren't Veerle." Outsiders weren't permitted to handle the dead as the Veerle believed the taint of those who were not clan could disrupt their journey to the afterlife.

There was silence for a moment and then Elsa stepped up to stand beside her. She didn't look at Anna, just stared out at the devastation. "Do you trust me?"

Anna didn't really have to think about the question now, not like she had when Elsa had first asked her. "Yes," she answered, voice rough.

"Haven't I proven myself willing to protect the clan?" was the older girl's next question. _There is no clan anymore_, Anna thought hollowly, and Elsa seemed to immediately realize this would be Anna's train of thought, so she added with weight, "To protect _you_?"

"Yes." Another automatic answer. Elsa had shed blood for Anna, had… _frozen_ people for her. No one besides family would have done such a thing for her.

"Do you believe I wish ill on you or the souls of your departed?"

Anna swallowed thickly. "No," she answered, and then she realized what Elsa was doing. She frowned slightly.

Elsa stepped around to stand in front of Anna and ducked her head so their eyes met more directly. "_Do you trust me_?" she repeated, this time slower and with heart-clenching substance.

Anna just stared at Elsa for a long moment, sky peering deeply into azure, searching for any deception, anything not to trust, but found nothing. "Yes," she whispered finally.

"Then claim me kin."

"I can't," Anna said, heart and voice broken. To claim someone kin meant to give an outsider status amongst the Veerle, to make them family. It was rarer than rare and only for those who showed themselves to be unwaveringly loyal to the clan. Anna wondered for just a moment how Elsa would even know about claiming kin as the Veerle (and most other gypsies) did not generally share knowledge of their practices with outsiders, but then she remembered Elsa's royal status and it made sense. Royals were taught the ways of other cultures for diplomatic reasons. "I am not clan leader. I can't bestow the rights."

Elsa seemed to start to reach forward, but then clenched her hands tight. "Anna," she said with both infinite gentleness and quiet strength, as if trying to both comfort Anna and force her see reason through her fog of anguish, "you're the only one left. You _are_ the leader."

Anna immediately shook her head and her nausea flared up dangerously, making her feel hot and shaky. "No," she said in a violent whisper, "I don't… want that. I don't want to be."

"I understand that," Elsa said slowly, a look of sympathy passing over her face… or perhaps it was empathy? "But–"

Anna shook her head again, cutting Elsa off as she breathlessly blurted, "I will be a clan of _one _and I can't– I don't want it!" She whipped around and marched a few paces away, pressing her hand to her forehead, trying to banish the pain and anxiety that was making her chest clench. She stopped near a pine and, feeling her strength suddenly desert her, leaned against it. She squeezed her eyes shut and just focused on breathing.

Elsa didn't approach her. She just stayed where she was.

Anna fought hard to get a hold of herself, to calm her breathing and force down the panic that was climbing up her throat. It was all just so much… too much.

She stood leaning against the tree for… well, she wasn't sure how long, until she felt she was at least able to speak again. "I don't want to be a clan of one," she told Elsa quietly. "I don't want to be alone."

There was a moment of silence before Elsa spoke. "Then don't be. Claim me kin," she said equally as soft. "Let me help you."

* * *

_Author's Notes:_ Hello lovelies! Oh my goodness, I apologize for the huge delay in getting this out to you. I am horrible.

This is my shortest chapter to date, I believe, and I had a lot more written of it, but I decided that since I hadn't updated in so long, I would just post the first half of what I had written so that at least you all would have _something _to read! And then that got me thinking.

I THINK I might end up doing slightly shorter chapters than I was before so that I can get them out faster to you all, my glorious readers, instead of trying to do longer ones that take more time to get out. Do you think that would work? Would you guys be okay with that?


	8. Chapter 8

Elsa wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, why she was fighting for the right to become Veerle. She wanted to help Anna, yes, wanted to help her care for the fallen, and she knew the only way to respectfully do that was to become Veerle. After all Anna had been through, she would not add to her suffering by trampling over the traditions of her people just to "help out". No, if she was going to do it, she was going to do it the right way.

Still, there was more to it than just that, but what?

"Why?" Anna pushed off the tree and turned back to face Elsa, her voice soft and desperate. Clearly her mind was wandering along the same avenue as Elsa's was. "Why would you want to help me?"

It came to her in that moment. Because she had been where Anna was. Because she understood and still felt the agony of loss that Anna was now feeling so acutely. Because she knew what it felt like to be alone.

_Because of_ _**him**__._

Elsa felt her expression suddenly darkened; she just couldn't help it. "Because he murdered my family, too."

Anna blinked. Her expression went from taken aback to full comprehension to resolved in a matter of a few seconds. She drew in a breath and straightened her spine and for the briefest moment, Elsa thought she could have been royalty. "Very well," she said solemnly.

The younger girl walked forward until she was standing before Elsa again. She gave a nod. "Elsa, daughter of King Adgar and Queen Idun of Arendelle, Winter's Promise–" Elsa worried in that moment that she was going to restate all of her titles again, "_Rebel Queen_, you have proven yourself to the Veerle to be of like mind and heart. You have shed blood in our name and offered your life for the benefit of the clan. You have shown courage, character, dedication, fortitude of mind, and strength of body, all attributes worthy of the Veerle. We welcome you."

Anna paused a beat, frowning slightly, then her eyes dropped to Elsa's waist. "May I?" she asked quietly, motioning to the knife on Elsa's belt.

Elsa nodded her consent and pulled it free, handing it to Anna. She watched as Anna flipped her left hand skyward and ran the blade over her palm, following the silvery line of what seemed to be a faint scar. When she was done, she looked at Elsa expectantly. "Now you."

Elsa's breath caught in her throat. Anna wanted her hand. _Her hand_. Girlhood fears stirred in her chest, fears of losing control of herself, of hurting others, and her palms tingled and itched with power. It was very nearly enough for her to change her mind about going through with the rights. Very, very nearly, but no. _No_. She was stronger than that, stronger than her fear. _As Papa taught you to be_.

She hesitated for but a moment longer before she offered her left hand to Anna, dutifully ignoring the slight frown of confusion from the other girl. She grit her teeth, but otherwise showed no outward response to the bite of pain that lanced through her hand when Anna slid the blade across. When it was done, the redhead met her eyes, seemingly seeking out the status of her well-being. Elsa gave a small nod to show that she was alright.

Anna drew in a deep breath, blowing it out quickly through her mouth, her eyes now on their bloody palms. She just stared at them for a long contemplative beat and then nodded to herself. She pressed her hand to Elsa's and held it tight, whispering words rapidly over them in a tongue that Elsa didn't know. Elsa was familiar with many languages, so she assumed it was Traveller speak as there were very few outside of their community who knew it and it wasn't something she would have been tutored in as a child.

When she was done, Anna brought her eyes up once more to meet Elsa's and took another breath before finally saying, "Through this blood bond, we are now kin." She then let go of Elsa's hand and took a step back, and for the briefest and oddest of moments, Elsa missed the contact.

Anna lingered there, shifting from foot to foot, looking as if she wanted to say something of breathtaking importance, then she seemed to settle. She handed the blade back. "Thank you," she whispered. Elsa didn't have time to respond before the gypsy girl turned and headed down into the camp, unthinkingly wiping the blood from her palm down the side of her saffron bodice and onto her double-layered olive and juniper skirts as she went.

Elsa watched her for a handful of seconds before she stepped up to Marsh who was rather tenaciously stripping the leaves off a nearby bush to munch on. She reached into one of the saddlebags and pulled out two strips of clean cloth, one to clean her knife and the other for her hand. When the first task was done, she slipped the knife back into its sheath on her belt before she wrapped the second strip around her sliced palm. She secured it with a knot, using her teeth to pull it tight.

She thought to offer the same treatment to Anna, but as she watched the redhead resolutely square herself off, she decided not to break the girl's concentration, her desperate determination. Her wound was like Elsa's own, long, but not deep. It had been just enough to bleed, but nothing more. It could be tended to later… after Anna's family was cared for.

Her family now, too, she realized, a slightly eerie feeling shooting down her spine, leaving her unsettled. To be claimed kin was to become a part of a Veerle clan, to be _kindred_. It was like she'd almost had a family again. The disquiet was replaced by a swell of sadness. She hadn't even gotten to meet them and now she was helping send them off on their final journey. She had the distinct feeling that had she been welcomed into the clan while they all still lived, she would have undoubtedly liked them. Anna's sweet, friendly, open nature told her that much. No one could maintain such effervescence surrounded by hard, hurtful people, and the sudden loss of the could-have-beens that Elsa now felt made her heart ache.

Sucking in a steeling breath, she gazed down at the devastation and considered what needed to be done, considered what would make the task ahead easier, at least physically. She looked at Marsh. "Come on now," she said quietly to him, "We must all do our part."

* * *

_Be strong _had been the last thought she'd had as she'd turned away from Elsa and moved down into the campsite and her mind continued now to repeat it over and over as she worked. Everything was just so horrible and surreal that it was almost as if the sheer disbelief she was experiencing had gotten her brain stuck on this endless loop of her last conscious thought.

_Be strong, be strong, be strong._

Elsa had brought Marsh down to help. She'd fashioned a makeshift litter out of some branches and rope and had attached it to the horse so that he could haul the bodies to the remaining caravans. It was Veerle custom, should the deceased have no direct family living out of their caravan, to place the body within, along with all their worldly possessions, and set it aflame. Those who did have living family members in need of the caravan were given up to the Endless Road on pyres.

As most of the caravans had been burned already by the king's men, Anna had decided that the easiest thing to do would be to place all her kin in the remaining caravans and release their spirits together. She knew they would have approved of the decision, especially her father, as there was no clan closer to one another than hers had been. They were family and they would make their final journey together.

Anna wished for a brief, aching moment that she was going with them and immediately she heard her father in her head reprimanding her. _Never wish for death, Anna, not for others and not for yourself, no matter the pain you're in_, his memory whispered.

He'd said that to her when she was small, when her brother's rough play had accidentally killed the baby bird she had been trying to save after it had fallen from its nest. Eight-year-old Anna had been so very furious that she had wished aloud that it had been Torrin who had died instead of her bird. Papa, having heard the heated words, had taken her aside to warn her about speaking such things over others, to warn her of words having power.

Anna, being Anna, had of course immediately worried for her brother's life and had begun shouting, "I didn't mean it! Take me instead!" in the middle of camp. Her father had shushed her and pulled her close when she'd started to cry. That was when he'd told her never to wish for death. "Life is precious, all life," he had said. "Everyone is redeemable. Everyone is worth forgiving. Forgive and that will be enough." So she had forgiven Torrin, and him her, making things like new once more, but she'd never forgotten her father's words.

As they worked to move the bodies, she did her best to forcibly remember the happy memories she had of her loved ones and staunchly ignore the contorted grimaces of death that had replaced all their vibrancy.

Torrin teasing her relentlessly, his mischievous grin sliding easily across his face.

Sonja brushing her hair out for her in the morning, teaching her how to braid it.

Aderyn whispering secrets to her in the dark, silly things, but things Anna still held in confidence.

Little Lilliah being born, her cries of new life that had turned to infectiously ceaseless giggles as she had aged.

Papa holding her close by the fire, the rich timbre of his voice filling the circle as he told story after story, lulling Anna to sleep with scenes of adventure, courage, and love flashing through her head.

Mama, with her stern looks and her–

Anna all but stumbled to a halt. _Mama_. She whipped around in place, turning in a full circle and then back again, eyes darting all about, searching desperately. Where was she?

Elsa seemed to notice her frantic movements and slowed Marsh to a stop a few feet from the caravan they had been placing the last of the bodies in. "Anna…?"

Anna ignored her and took off, running all around the camp, checking everything. She checked in the tall grasses and under the caravans. She checked the few tents and around the treeline. She even checked the smoldering remains of the caravans that had been burned by the king's men, looking for bones that she may have missed, ignoring the bite of pain as the still-hot wreckage burned her fingers as she shuffled things aside in her mad search.

It was only when a hand clamped around her upper arm and pulled her around, forcing her to drop a smoking plank of wood from her grip that she even registered the fact that Elsa was still calling her name. "Anna!" The older girl shook her slightly with the hand around her arm. "What are you doing? What's wrong?" The was a very clear twinge of anxious confusion in the blonde's voice.

"She isn't here. She isn't here!" Anna exclaimed.

"Who?" Elsa demanded. "Who isn't here?"

"Mama!"

"Wait. Your mother isn't here?"

Anna nodded and her hands started shaking. "I-I can't find her."

"...Are you sure she's not in one of the caravans?"

"I didn't miss her, Elsa. I wouldn't have missed her!" But she had, Anna realized. She hadn't missed her mother's body, but her head had been so messed up, so fogged by anguish, that she'd missed completely that her mother was actually _missing_.

Elsa let go of Anna's arm and held up her hands in a calming manner. "Okay! Okay. Let's look for her again, alright? Just to be sure." Anna gave a shaky nod.

And they _did_ look, they looked everywhere, in the camp and in the surrounding woods, but found nothing.

"How did I not notice? How did I not see?" Anna murmured as they reluctantly ended their search. She shook her head despondently and stared at the ground.

"Anna…"

"I should have seen. I should have known…"

"Anna."

"I should have– I should have–"

"Anna!"

She snapped her head up at the exclamation and realized that Elsa was standing before her, not a foot away, her hands curled into tight balls at her sides and her expressive eyes radiating clear concern.

Anna felt it as a hiccup first, a bubble caught in her throat. She watched as the tightness around Elsa's eyes soften and her expression grew infinitely sad. A split second before it happened, Anna realized it was a reflection of her own expression. "Anna…" Elsa whispered and the sympathy in her tone was too much.

That's when she broke. Her face crumpled and her hiccup turned into a full-fledged sob. She lurched forward a step into a suddenly-surprised-looking Elsa and pressed her face into the older girl's shoulder. She took no notice of how the blonde immediately stiffened at the contact and instead wrapped her arms the best she could around her waist, pulling herself as far in as possible and clutching tight to Elsa.

* * *

Elsa stood rigidly as Anna sobbed into her. She had not been expecting this, nor did she really know what to do. She couldn't even remember the last time someone had sought out comfort in her arms, if anyone ever had. Not that Anna was really _in _her arms. It was considerably more like she was in Anna's, in a death-grip, while her own limbs hung paralyzed at her sides.

The thing was, she _wanted _to comfort Anna. She wanted to crush the girl to her and banish the suffering from her heart, just as she had wished someone had been able to do for her after the murder of her parents.

But Elsa didn't really know how to do that, not anymore. Truly, she had forgotten. She wondered briefly if she'd ever really learned, realized sadly that she was broken. Her arms could not enfold, could not pull close; her hands could not caress, could not soothe. She knew they would likely only cause more damage if they did.

When the girl finally quieted down, Elsa offered the only solace she could manage in that moment – words. "We will find her," she said. Anna, sniffling, loosened her white-knuckle grip on Elsa and inched back a little so she could turn her now-blotchy face upward to look at Elsa. "If she is alive, if there is _any_ way, we will find her."

For a long moment, Anna just stared up at her before she finally gave a nod. She let go and stepped back. Elsa waited for the telltale flush of embarrassment to rise up the gypsy's cheeks, but it did not come. Elsa realized that the girl was simply too exhausted by it all to even be bothered by her loss of control. She did, however, whisper, "I'm sorry."

Elsa shook her head to ward off the apology, but said nothing.

Anna turned and started slowly toward the center of camp where Marsh stood.

* * *

By the time they'd finished collecting the bodies, had stacked the wood up around the remaining caravans, and she'd sung the Song of Remembrance and Release over her family before lighting the fires, Anna was dragging, her injured arm held tightly to her chest and her cheeks pale with pain and bone-deep fatigue. Elsa looked was tired as well.

"I think you're bleeding again," Elsa said softly. "You should let me look at it."

"It's fine," Anna replied, her voice devoid of everything except complete exhaustion, and Elsa seemed to understand as her face softened at Anna's dismissal. It was far easier to deal with physical pain than emotional.

So they just stood there, watching the caravans burn and they stayed there until everything had turned to ash. The storm seemed to be right on top of them now.

"Do you know why we're called Veerle?" Anna asked Elsa, staring blankly out at the smoldering remains of her entire life.

Elsa remained silent.

"The means 'battle traveller'. Traditionally, the Veerle were great warriors who would travel the lands offering their swords to those in need, or to those with the coin." She shrugged slightly. "We were made of fire and glory and honor, and our names were sung with both fear and admiration… But we turned from the old ways, into those who tell the tales of war to entertain instead of partaking in them. Our original path faded, our deeds forgotten by the world, even by many of our own. _And this is what it has gotten us_," she spat out the last words, bending and jerkily scooping some ashes from the pyre into her hand. "We allowed ourselves to grow soft, complacent with our lot. We sought peace with words instead of a blade and only received death in return."

Anna paused, clenching her jaw tight, and straightened. A minute passed, then two. Finally, though, she sucked in a deep, harsh breath and said, "I will kill King Hans in the name of my family and in the name of the true Veerle."

_Life is precious, all life. Everyone is redeemable, _her father whispered in her mind again.

She frowned down at the ground. _No, Papa, he is not. _Opening her hand, she released the ashes to the wind.

It started to rain.

* * *

_Author's Notes_: Because you were all so helpful when I asked for your input (and also simply because I adore you all), I thought I would drop this lil chapter earlier than I normally do for your reading pleasure.

I know,_ I know_, ANGST. They're both just sooooooo angsty, but I just feel given the situation they're allowed a little angst, right? I promise this will lighten up more soon though! And then get darker, and lighter, and darker again because that's how I DO. Ups and downs, ups and downs. But I do fully promise this is NOT a story of just never-ending angst.


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